Brand destruction

The Putins got divorced, like... Well, in general, a lot of them got divorced... On Monday, a cousin showed up. Following his older cousin, Igor Putin rushed into politics, having until now accumulated corresponding ambitions. When the level of these ambitions reached a critical level, the director of the Samara Reservoir Plant, Igor Putin, announced his exit from United Russia and his entry into the Russian Party of LIFE, headed by the Speaker of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov. Without a doubt, this is a serious blow to the party in power. (If it is still correct to call “United Russia” that way. The point of view that there has been no consolidated power in Russia for a long time, and there are only groups of influential dignitaries warring among themselves, is gaining more and more popularity among experts.) But, be that as it may, the youngest Putin , as they say, “stuck a knife in the back of the revolution.” After all, the “Putin” brand has still been inextricably linked in the eyes of voters with the “United Russia” brand - the president has repeatedly declared his unconditional support for this, so to speak, party.

Probably, the Putin family is far from the Italian model of the primary cell of society, and I strongly doubt that Igor Putin asked Vladimir Vladimirovich’s permission for such an extravagant political demarche, having first kissed the president’s hand. But, you must admit, it is also quite difficult to imagine that he made this decision after consulting exclusively with his wife. Most likely, someone in the administration of the head of state nevertheless authorized this unexpected change in political orientation. By the way, it’s more or less clear who. The same people who conceived and today are quite successfully implementing the project of merging the RPZh, Rodina and the Pensioners Party. In other words, a project to create a new big left party in Russia, capable of competing not only with the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, but also with United Russia itself. The very nervous reaction of the main United Russia members only proves that they perfectly understood who this initiative was actually directed against.

Before Igor Putin had time to hold a press conference and declare his “vital” interests, most experts close to United Russia began vying with each other about the use of the so-called game with “doubles” by Mironov’s supporters. This is when a person with a well-known surname is added to the election list solely to increase the electoral appeal of this list. The identity of the person involved does not matter. There is no doubt that in this case we are dealing only with a partial application of a scheme that has been tested more than once. It is clear that Sergei Mironov and his patrons no longer need Igor Putin for anything other than to build up their political potential with the help of these five letters - p, u, t, i, n. But still, Igor Putin is not a random homeless person from the Samara train station. He is indeed Vladimir Putin's cousin. And not just any one, but the same one. Well, you understand... In other words, an important political event took place in Russia - the Putin brand began to be replicated.

I don’t doubt for a second that if this news had come - about the recruitment of a close relative of Vladimir Putin by the LIFE Party - before October 8, the result of the RP in the last regional elections would have been even more impressive. Well, Sergei Mironov can be congratulated on such a significant acquisition. By the way, I would advise our other parties to also look for the president’s relatives. Or not even necessarily relatives. For example, the Pensioners' Party could be strengthened by Vladimir Vladimirovich's elderly nanny, and some environmental movement could be strengthened by the Labrador Koni. True, in the case of Koni, you will have to ask for permission from Vladimir Putin, but I think there will be no problems with this. Putin doesn’t seem to care anymore, as long as they leave him behind as quickly as possible. He will also serve a third term (if he does), guided by precisely this state of mind. Like, get lost and do what you want.