Zakhar Prilepin is preparing to run for the presidential election from A Just Russia

Zakhar Prilepin, co-chairman of the Just Russia – Patriots – For Truth party, intends to take part in the next presidential election and is preparing for the nomination. Four interlocutors in A Just Russia and a source close to the presidential administration (AP) told Vedomosti about this.

“Prilepin wants to show the Presidential Administration that he could take part in the elections,” says a source in Just Russia. To do this, he builds a separate [от партии] headquarters structure and is active in the regions. On August 15, Prilepin will open a headquarters in the Krasnodar Territory, and then there will be seven of them in Russia. In addition, he has opened headquarters in the LPR, in the Kherson and Kharkov regions.

The desire to run for the party seems logical, another source says:[Председатель «Справедливой России» Сергей] Mironov did not run for election in 2018 either, because he cannot fight against the first person. A Zakhar [Прилепин] maybe he’s interested.” At the same time, as this interlocutor of Vedomosti says, such an initiative by Prilepin is still perceived “not in the best way” in the Presidential Administration.

I heard about the possible nomination of Prilepin and a source close to the Presidential Administration. According to him, the approval of such a project is “in the process.” While the ideological niche of Prilepin in the presidential campaign is being discussed, the source in A Just Russia clarifies.

When asked by Vedomosti about the possibility of running for the next presidential election, Prilepin replied: “As of August 14, 2022, I am interested in a) returning to Kyiv, b) de-occupation of Russian culture, c) completing Sholokhov’s biography. There is not even a single glimmering thought about what you said.”

The writer, former National Bolshevik Prilepin created the For Truth movement in 2019, and in 2020, a party of the same name was created on its basis. In February 2021, he became one of the co-chairs of the Just Russia – Patriots – For Truth party, after the three parties united on the eve of the Duma elections. Prilepin said that he agreed to study at the Higher School of Public Administration of the RANEPA, which is supervised by the internal political bloc of the Presidential Administration.

Political consultant Valentin Bianchi believes that Prilepin is striving for greater subjectivity, but “by today’s standards it is premature” to talk about elections, which are almost two years away. The creation of headquarters and other infrastructure shows in advance that the candidate “seems to really” want to participate in the campaign, the expert says, but doubts that anyone will be allowed to seriously collect votes on the patriotic agenda.

Prilepin is narcissistic enough to strive to be the center of attention, says political scientist Mikhail Vinogradov. “He is relatively acceptable as a candidate – not being a full-fledged systemic figure capable of converting publicity into a political or administrative result, he does not look dangerous for the management system,” the expert believes. And A Just Russia is comfortable with him, because he will be a prominent candidate, but he is unlikely to be able to seize control of the party, Vinogradov believes.