Zakhar Prilepin held a meeting of the Joint Council of Commanders of his structures

Co-chairman of A Just Russia – For Truth (SRZP), writer Zakhar Prilepin, held a meeting of the Joint Council of Commanders of his structures on Wednesday. The Prilepin residents presented a detailed report on their work on the military, humanitarian, cultural and political fronts and strongly denied rumors of a rift with the SRZP. Mr. Prilepin himself stated that he does not intend to be deeply involved in politics in non-peaceful times.

The reason for talking about the strength of the alliance between Zakhar Prilepin’s supporters and the SRZP arose in November after a public polemic between State Duma deputies Dmitry Kuznetsov, who received the mandate of the writer himself, and Valery Hartung, who headed the election headquarters of the SRZP. There were rumors about the deprivation of Prilepin’s mandate and the impending divorce of the two political forces. The chairman of the SRZP, Sergei Mironov, undertook to dispel them, who in early December said that “according to the current legislation, military personnel do not have the right to engage in political activities,” therefore the party leadership decided to award Zakhar Prilepin the title of “honorary party member”: “He was and remains in our ranks… And those who dream of a split in the coalition of left forces in Russia, dream of the leaders of the patriotic movement leaving the political scene, let them get by.”

On Wednesday, Mr. Prilepin, surrounded by his associates, demonstrated the structural power of the organizations under his control. Reports on the activities were made by the commanders of the military units “Oplot” and “Rodnya”, the leaders of the training center “Steel”, the Zakhar Prilepin Foundation, the cultural center “Tradition” and representatives of the movement “For Truth”.

“Everything that was created by our team was not a man-made process with some far-reaching strategic plan,” the writer noted. “We responded to the challenges of the time, and this is how our structures were created one after another.”

The responses to these challenges were personified by specific individuals. For example, Oplot commander Sergei Zavodeev explained that his structure initially (since 2019) had two tasks: to protect Russia “in the event of Maidan,” and “in the event of activation of hostilities, to turn into a combat unit.”

The Prilepin residents had enough reasons for pride in all contexts: fighters fight on the front line of the North Military District, “humanitarian workers” bring food there for the population, staff officers provide funding and solve administrative problems (in 2023, 23 headquarters of Zakhar Prilepin collected about 350 million rubles, purchased over 30 vehicles and sent 480 tons of humanitarian aid and 4 thousand first aid kits to the Northern Military District zone). And legislative support and lobbying are carried out by political representatives integrated into the SRHR.

Answering Kommersant’s question in what format he plans to continue his political career and whether rumors about his discord with the party are reliable, Zakhar Prilepin admitted that he is “watching this news with interest” and “is glad that people have time during the war years to fantasize about different topics.”

“We calmly worked and continue to work with the structures of A Just Russia within a single organization,” Mr. Prilepin assured, emphasizing that “none of the problems being discussed in Telegram channels” exist.

The political career, according to the writer, worries him the least now: “I am a military man, as soon as I recover and pass the medical examination, I will return back to duty and will do this. And then, as the writer said, if we are alive, we will think about a political career.”

The Prilepin Duma members also denied discrepancies with the SRZP. “We have enormous plans for party activities! — said deputy Nikolai Novichkov. “A Just Russia reflects the ideological values ​​of Zakhar Prilepin, so we are moving forward together.” “You’ve said everything, what’s there to comment on? We have a leader’s structure,” deputy Dmitry Kuznetsov nodded to his boss with a smile at the proposal to complement his colleagues.

The writer later nevertheless outlined the contours of the socio-political work carried out by his comrades: “We do not appoint headquarters, people appear there themselves – restless people, I sometimes call them punks.” They express their readiness to “fight with the local leadership” and “begin to disturb” the region on a number of issues, and the authorities are forced to respond to this request, Mr. Prilepin explained: “The main thing is that this is done professionally, and not in the usual liberal-abusive form.” .

“We come and say: we came to help,” the writer described the process. “They (officials.— “Kommersant”) they say: maybe it’s not necessary? No, we came to help. Be patient.”

He also touched upon the migration agenda, on the basis of which relations between deputies Kuznetsov and Hartung worsened. “I am sincerely in favor of simply annexing the territories from which migrant workers come to us and teaching them the Russian language on the spot,” explained Mr. Prilepin, adding that he was “not joking” and intends to “continue to promote the topic of disavowing documentation about the collapse USSR”: “Who will forbid us to do anything useful on Eurasian territory after the parade in Kiev?” Those gathered greeted the leader’s intentions with an ovation.

These statements by Zakhar Prilepin will certainly be noticed in the post-Soviet space, political scientist Konstantin Kalachev is sure: “He is openly exaggerating, condensing, provoking, and the question is whether SRZP needs this.” Such a narrative “has its own audience,” but it is “rather marginal,” the expert notes: “SRZP wants to look like a party that is attractive to serious people, sponsors and potential candidates, and Prilepin is clearly not helping that.” By remaining in such a discourse, “you can increase your public social capital,” but not “political weight and influence,” Mr. Kalachev summarizes: “The authorities need people who would indicate extremes—against their background it looks more respectable—but not in State Duma.”

Grigory Leiba