United Russia will celebrate the holiday in a family way – Newspaper Kommersant No. 203 (7404) dated 01.11.

State Duma deputies from United Russia received traditional recommendations from the party on working with voters within the framework of the “regional week”. United Russia intends to participate in actions dedicated to the Day of National Unity in order to let “families of fighters feel like members of a single family – Russia.” Deputies are also asked to hold informal meetings with university students to discuss “their concerns about a special military operation.”

Recommendations on “working topics” are distributed to the Duma members of United Russia before each week allotted for work with voters. The current “regional week” will last until November 6th. In the materials received by the deputies (“Kommersant” got acquainted with them) there are several “sense lines” that they must adhere to in communicating with citizens on the ground.

Thus, in connection with the upcoming National Unity Day on November 4, the party expects its deputies to participate in actions dedicated to this holiday. “The Day of National Unity is dedicated to the liberation of Moscow from the Polish interventionists and the end of the unrest in the Russian state – one of the most important dates in our history, which determined the formation of Russia as an independent great power. In the context of the information war directed against our country, it is important to recall the history of our state, which went through fire and water on the way to its sovereignty,” the handed out materials say. They also emphasize that today national unity is “more important than ever”: “All the peoples of Russia in the conditions of a special military operation stand up for each other, families of military personnel receive words of support and gifts from all over the country. The United Russia deputies are helping to convey words of support and people’s gifts to the families of servicemen.

In particular, United Russia members are invited to participate in the collection and distribution of gift sets and letters of support by the regional branches of the party for families with many children and needy mobilized and volunteers as part of the all-Russian action “Russia is a United Family!”. They are also recommended to record video greetings on the holiday against the background of landmark objects for the region and post them on social networks. This action, according to the party, “will allow the families of fighters from all regions of Russia to feel like members of a single family – Russia.”

United Russia confirmed the authenticity of the recommendations to Kommersant and noted that National Unity Day would be celebrated “as part of the work to support the families of the mobilized.” At the same time, party branches of some regions will collect gifts for others: they will be sent, for example, from Chechnya to Kamchatka, from Moscow to Buryatia, from Pskov to Bashkiria, etc. The parcels may contain “folk sweets, products that are significant for the region, products folk craft, ”explained“ Kommersant ”in the party.

National Unity Day is planned to be celebrated in other parliamentary parties. For example, the LDPR will hold a rally in Moscow in the format of a meeting with its activists at the party site with the participation of party leader Leonid Slutsky and deputies. “There will be a solemn part with music, performances by drummers and other artists, they will show a new video with the forecasts of the founder of the party, Vladimir Zhirinovsky,” Kommersant was told in the press service of the party. One of the central topics will be the special operation and the reunification of Russia with historical territories, the LDPR explained. Members of A Just Russia – For Truth will take part in city-wide celebrations and rallies in Moscow and the regions, but the party does not plan its own events, since it advocates reducing the cost of mass celebrations in favor of helping the front and the mobilized, Kommersant was told in the party press service.

There are also “non-holiday” topics in the recommendations to United Russia deputies. In particular, they were invited to hold informal meetings with university students in the regions to discuss “their questions and concerns about the special military operation.” These meetings should be “as informal as possible”: “without tribunes, ties and questions collected from students in advance.” The events are recommended to be held “as part of the acceptance or monitoring of the progress of renovation of student dormitories or discussion of plans for the future renovation of these dormitories, it is also possible to conduct lectures as part of the curriculum in one of the social sciences (for example, history or philosophy).” United Russia students want to tell students not only about the goals and course of the special operation, but also about the assistance that the party provides to the mobilized and their families.

In addition, the recommendations for the “regional week” have a traditional section on the “people’s program” of the party. United Russia has been instructed to tell voters about the financing of its provisions, provided for in the draft federal budget for 2023-2025 (last week it was adopted by the Duma in the first reading). For example, Irina Pankina, First Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Legislation, has already reported in her Telegram that the budget “fully provides funding for the key provisions of the United Russia People’s Program, which includes, among other things, the overhaul and construction of schools, the modernization of healthcare, the improvement yards and public territories, support for socially unprotected categories of citizens.

Maria Makutina