The party members were drawn to the new - Newspaper Kommersant No. 186 (7387) of 10/07/2022
The United Russia General Council on Thursday approved the secretaries of its regional branches in the new Russian territories. Of the current heads of regions, only the acting head of the Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin, received a party post, and in three other cases, the party did not choose the heads of the subjects. In EP they assure that "there is no conspiracy in this" and the decision was made taking into account the opinions of the governors themselves. Representatives of the parliamentary opposition, according to Kommersant's information, also received the go-ahead for political work in the new regions. They told about their plans on Thursday at a special round table of the Expert Institute for Social Research (EISI).
General Council "United Russia" (ER) at its meeting on October 6, chaired by party leader Dmitry Medvedev, approved the creation of four new branches of the United Russia - in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics (DPR and LPR), as well as in Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. The heads of the departments were introduced by the secretary of the General Council of the United Russia Andrey Turchak: in the DPR it was the head of the republic Denis Pushilin, in the LPR it was the chairman of the People’s Council (parliament) of the republic Denis Miroshnichenko, in the Zaporozhye region it was the mayor of Melitopol Galina Danilchenko, in the Kherson region it was the deputy of the State Duma Igor Kastyukevich. The party also elected State Duma deputies who will be responsible for the new regions until they have their own elected representatives: Zurab Makiyev was assigned to the DPR, Viktor Vodolatsky to the LPR, Artem Bichaev to the Zaporozhye region, Igor Kastyukevich to the Kherson region.
“With the admission of new lands to Russia, the process of their legal integration immediately begins. So it was with Crimea, so it will be now,” Dmitry Medvedev said during the meeting.
According to him, United Russia, as "the country's leading political force," will have to take an active part in this work, both at the legislative level and through its representatives in the executive branch.
Recall that in recent years United Russia has been very willing to put representatives of the governor's corps at the head of its regional branches: now it has more than 20 such secretaries. Thus, the party strengthened the responsibility of the head of the region for its election results. And for some leaders, the position of United Russia leader became a guarantee of prolongation of their gubernatorial powers. However, with the heads of the new entities Leonid Pasechnik (LNR), Vladimir Saldo (Kherson region) and Evgeny Balitsky (Zaporozhye region) United Russia did not follow this logic. According to a Kommersant source close to the party leadership, in all three cases United Russia, together with the internal political bloc of the presidential administration, immediately selected other candidates. Denis Pushilin he himself asked Andrei Turchak to appoint him head of the regional branch, adds an informed source close to the presidential administration. Due to the party position, he most likely wanted to strengthen his political positions, the interlocutor of Kommersant believes.
There is no conspiracy in this decision, Artem Bichaev assured the participants of the EISI round table dedicated to the “political integration of new territories”. “We have held meetings, including with the participation of the acting governors of new regions. To put it simply, people are different: for some, the function of a political leader is more native, for others, less so. We talked with everyone, discussed the design and came to this option, ”the deputy explained.
“We live in the Russian political tradition, when there is the concept of party locomotives,” political scientist Alexander Asafov developed the topic. “This is primarily due to electoral processes. But now there are tasks of a different nature. And in this case, there are questions about whether it is worth combining all the functions of actors in one figure ... Decisions are made from political expediency.
During the round table, representatives of the parliamentary opposition also spoke briefly about their plans for work in the new territories.
Thus, the deputy of the State Duma from "Fair Russia - For Truth" Dmitry Gusev said that the party projects of the Social Revolutionaries are "catching up" with those projects that the party is already doing for the people. According to him, "Justice Centers" are already operating in the Donbass, which provide legal services to citizens. Deputy of the State Duma from LDPR Stanislav Naumov lamented the lack of databases on citizens in the new authorities, which makes it difficult to receive pensions and social benefits. “Maybe it’s worth going to the UN and demanding that Kyiv return the databases that they took with them when they left? After all, we are talking about a humanitarian catastrophe,” Mr. Naumov suggested, adding that if this fails, then the transition period should be used to collect all the necessary data. And the head of the executive committee "New people" Oleg Zakharov said that his party will focus on three areas: interaction with local activists to provide the population with humanitarian assistance, support for business in its interaction with the authorities, and the launch of the educational project "I'm in business" for start-up entrepreneurs.
According to two Kommersant sources close to the presidential administration, until recently, the Duma opposition was not recommended to conduct social and political activities in the territories of the current new subjects.
In fact, everything was limited to humanitarian aid, and other initiatives caused opposition, says one of the interlocutors. “Now, on the contrary, they say to start work if there are any connections and activists,” another source notes.
Regionalist political scientist Rostislav Turovsky believes that the selection by United Russia of the secretaries of its regional branches testifies to the thoughtful and calm approach of the party leadership. “The positions of the three heads who have not taken these positions are not automatically weakened by this. In any case, there is no political struggle for the post of party secretary. Rather, we are talking about delayed decisions, ”concludes the expert.