Translated material
ATP - collapse or update?
In the Kremlin
ATP - collapse or update?
September 23, 2005 Alexander Golts
Two days before the Congress of the Right Forces, the Congress of the Union of Right Forces, a sensation occurred. The Federal Political Service of the Party by a majority vote supported the decision of the Moscow organization to nominate a single list of candidates for elections to the Moscow City Duma with the Yabloko party. Does this decision face the split of the ATP? The correspondent of EJ.ru spoke about this with prominent ATP figures Ivan Starikov, Boris Nadezhdin and Boris Nemtsov. This is what each of them said .
Ivan Starikov :
I think there will be no split. The proposal to go to the elections to the Moscow City Duma on the base of Yabloko was approved today at the political reserve by the vast majority of votes. If Gozman, Mints, Tomchin was against, then they were defeated. Nikita Belykh took our side. Grigory Tomchin called the incident "a sophisticated combination of the collapse of the ATP organized by Starikov." But my role is not so significant. I just set out my position to the Moscow organization. The soil for its perception turned out to be fertile, it is a fact. I do not think this decision is political surrender. The effect of the fact that the political officer made a decision that our supporters expected from us will be much stronger than all fears.
The condition of Yavlinsky was: either on the base of the "Yabloko", or nothing. He has such arguments: in the 2003 elections, we have seriously overtook you, so in other regions there are different options, and in Moscow the only way. I think this is the first step in creating a single democratic force. I am absolutely sure that the former ATP and Yabloko have exhausted themselves. A new political brand is needed. In 1999, we went to the elections in other conditions. The electoral barrier was five percent, the creation of blocks was allowed, I'm not talking about freedom of speech, the possibility of at least some control over the bureaucracy. And then they did not win. Therefore, until 2006, we need to create a single democratic party, try to weaken ideological restrictions, not to play in principle on secondary issues.
If we talk about the possibility of a split in the party, you need to understand that representatives of the regions that come in good faith, including Khodorkovsky, are much more radical than many here in Moscow. I know that the party’s apparatus is actively working against me. I know that at the congress an attempt will be made to exclude me from the political council. Nikita Belykh promised me that he would personally bring my candidacy to the political council. Tomorrow, the St. Petersburg branch will surely try to exclude me from the party for the support of Khodorkovsky . But they need to understand that this is the only way to return to real politics.
Boris Nemtsov :
I think no split will happen at the congress. In any democratic party, different points of view are possible, including about unification with someone. I believe that for us it is absolutely correct to unite with Yabloko in the elections to the Moscow City Duma. And, a rare case, we have quite high chances to do this. As always, with such a decision, mutual concessions are needed, and I actively play for it. No one is going to expel anyone from the party for the support of Khodorkovsky. Nobody Starikova and Nadezhdin will touch. This is complete nonsense. Where did these conversations come from? Well, there are dissatisfied, there are Kremlin agents, there are informers, there are just a lot of dissatisfied, close to power. Their weight is minimal. The ATP since the arrest of Khodorkovsky has held a fundamental position on this issue, speaking about the unrighteousness of such actions, about participation in the Kremlin case. So Starikov’s behavior with Nadezhdin is completely normal. The Khodorkovsky support project is very serious and absolutely meets the position that we occupied in 2003.
Boris Nadezhdin :
The congress will be difficult. I am sure that we will make the right decision to nominate a single list with the “apple” and will not allow the split.
Alexander Golts
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