| “Pokhmelkinsky” and “Berezovsky” continue to fight for the party Inter-liberal strife flared up with renewed vigor. Last weekend, both warring parts of the Liberal Russia party held events directed against each other. First, on Friday, supporters of Viktor Pokhmelkin lined up a picket outside the British Embassy demanding the extradition of Boris Berezovsky. The part of “Liberal Russia” that went over to the oligarch’s side did not remain in debt. The next day, Saturday, when the Pohmelkinites gathered for an extraordinary party congress, on the approaches to the Olympian boarding house near Moscow they were met by clowns and midgets with goats and sheep. The mummers held posters with a meaningful inscription: “The circus has left, the clowns remain. Greetings to the participants of the event."
“These clowns are that part of “Liberal Russia” that remained with Berezovsky,” co-chairman of the Republican Party Boris Fedorov, the guest of honor at the congress, made it clear from the podium. “Today our congress is important because we are completing the most important process in the construction of our party - the process of purification. The party has undergone crystallization, only those who are selflessly devoted to liberal ideas remain in it,” co-chairman of “Liberal Russia” Boris Zolotukhin addressed the participants of the congress.
As a result of purification, another portion of Berezovsky's supporters were expelled from the party's governing bodies. Party members voted to remove 30 people from the central council and political council, and the chairman of the executive committee of Liberal Russia, Khamid Delmaev, was dismissed from his post for “malicious failure to fulfill his duties.” Ultimately, the central council was re-elected in full, the political council partially. One of the new members of the political council was Alexei Yushenkov, the son of the deceased co-chairman of Liberal Russia. Yushenkov's daughter Elena became a member of the party secretariat.
The spirit of Boris Berezovsky hovered in the atmosphere of the congress throughout its entire work. Viktor Pokhmelkin boasted that Liberal Russia is one of the few parties that got rid of the power of capital. “We have come a long, difficult, but victorious path to cleansing ourselves from oligarchic influence,” Pokhmelkin argued. “Having withstood this struggle, the party proved that there are people capable of resisting this evil spirit.”
During a break in the congress, Pokhmelkin told reporters that “Liberal Russia” sets itself the task of taking third place in the State Duma elections - after “United Russia” and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Meanwhile, a rumor leaked to the media that Pokhmelkin was preparing a letter to the Ministry of Justice with a request to close the party so that it would not go to anyone. “Pokhmelkinites” claim that this rumor was again generated by Berezovsky’s supporters.
In addition to the clownery, the “boletus” organized a boat trip on the motor ship “Aurora” in Serebryany Bor. Members of Berezovsky’s youth “Liberal Russia” rode along the river, armed with offensive slogans: “Pokhmelkin is not a surname, but a state of mind,” “Pokhmelkin: I am exchanging two comrades-in-arms for a place in the Duma.” Senior supporters of the oligarch wanted to gather for their congress in Izmailovsky Park, but they were prevented by a message about a bomb threat. They were also not allowed to hold a rally on Vasilyevsky Spusk. Ksenia VERETENNIKOVA |
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