The split in the DPR: Kasyanov’s supporters were not allowed to the congress

The congress of the Democratic Party of Russia, at which the leader of the party is planned to elect the ex-Prime Minister of the Russian Federation Mikhail Kasyanov, at the last moment was transferred from the "October" hall of the House of Unions to one of the buildings of the Izmailovo hotel complex.

“At night in the building where the congress was to be held, unknown people appeared who pretend to be as delegates of the congress. But they are not such, and they have no documents confirming this,” Elena Dikun, Advisor to Public Relations, said on Saturday morning.

“Therefore, the congress is urgently transferred to the Izmailovo hotel complex,” said Dikun. The former member of the Federal Political Council of the ATP Ivan Starikov, the leader of the party “Our Choice” Irina Khakamada, who declared his intention to move to the DPR, and others arrived.

The leader of the ATP, Nikita Belykh, promised to arrive at the Congress of the Democratic Party in Izmailovo. According to Tatyana Kasyanova, spokeswoman for ex-Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanova, Belykh "called and said that he would go to the congress at about noon."

Khakamada, commenting on the current situation, said that Kasyanov, she and other representatives of the DPR "were ready for provocations, understood that they could be very serious, and therefore what happened this morning, of course, made additional tension, but the democrats intend to fight."

At the same time, the chairman of the Central Committee of the DPR, Andrei Bogdanov, told Interfax that the congress delegates are gathering in the House of Unions, as planned earlier.

“We have presented 47 regional branches and have more than 200 delegates,” Vyacheslav Smirnov, a member of the DPR, said, opening the congress. “We consider the 19th Congress open,” he said. At the beginning of the work of the congress, the presidium, mandate and counting commissions were formed.

Meanwhile, the delegates of the Congress of Democratic Russia were offered money for supporting the congress under the leadership of Andrei Bogdanov. As the leader of the Democratic Party department in the Altai Republic, Mikhail Karatunov, told Interfax, he was offered 10 thousand dollars as the head of the regional branch. “But our organization is not for sale,” he said.

The leader of the Kursk association of the DPR, Sergei Vasiliev, who arrived on Saturday at the House of Unions, announced the illegitimacy of the event held here. Vasiliev went to the center of the hall and told the gathered delegates: "This is an illegitimate meeting. You were deceived. If you consider yourself democrats, there are buses on the street that will take you to where the real congress takes place."

According to him, "the real congress is now taking place in Izmailovo." According to Vasiliev, "some of the delegates are bought here, and some are fed." The guard led him out of the hall.

Kasyanov’s associates yesterday predicted different options for the development of events at the congress: “Anything can be organized - a scandal, a breakdown of a quorum, an alternative congress of the Democratic Party, a repetition of a scenario of a batch split, just as it was done with the“ liberal Russia ”in 2003.

At the same time, surrounded by the ex-Prime Minister did not exclude that the authorities would be able to persuade most delegates to vote against Mikhail Kasyanov. Irina Hakamada’s assistant (she intends to enter the DPR political officer) Konstantin Lazarev yesterday said to Kommersant that it is difficult to predict the exit's outcome: “There is evidence that moods have changed sharply in the regional departments of the Democratic Party, people will swim, everything can change during the night.” Mr. Kasyanov said that he imagines what "problems can arise around the DPR", but "is ready for an open discussion with party members at the congress."

Democrats offer themselves as a platform for the formation of the right coalition. The DPR forum invited representatives of the ATP, Yabloko and a number of other parties and organizations "playing" on the right flank of Russian politics.

In addition, the Congress of the Republican Party of Russia will be held today. Its informal leader, State Duma deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov intends to propose his concept of unification of the right liberals.