Translated material
United "Motherland"
They are again trying to make one out of two Duma factions with the same name
The Rodina faction in the Duma, which split into two with scandal a year ago, may be on the verge of new transformations. Deputies from both factions - Rodina (People's Patriotic Union) and Rodina (People's Will - SEPR) - are dissatisfied with the current situation and believe that it is necessary to unite back. And at the same time, resolve the issue of joint actions in the upcoming parliamentary elections of 2007.As the leader of the Rodina (People's Patriotic Union) faction, Alexander Babakov, who replaced Dmitry Rogozin in this post, told reporters, negotiations on the reunification of the two Duma factions are continuing. Moreover, it turns out that they never stopped. However, no real agreements have yet been reached. As Mr. Babakov noted, to restore the unity of the Rodina faction there are no “contraindications”, while the decisive step, in his opinion, should be taken by the second side, namely the deputies who left after Vice-Speaker Sergei Baburin, who was expelled from Rodina faction even under Rogozin.
The deputy head of the Rodina faction (People's Will - SEPR), Sergei Glotov, actively joined the fight for unification. According to him, the issue of uniting the two Rodinas should be resolved before the end of the spring Duma session. At the same time, he believes that it is necessary to create an attractive structure where deputies from other factions can move. And then the united Rodina faction will become even more numerous than before the division.
At the same time, Mr. Glotov does not rule out that some of the deputies will simply move to Rodina (Narodnaya Volya - SEPR), which is headed by Sergei Baburin. “We are waiting for replenishment,” the deputy told a Vremya Novostei correspondent. - For example, Sergei Glazyev promised to come to us. This agreement was reached at the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Duma.”
Sergei Glazyev was really dissatisfied with the changes that took place in the leadership of Rodina about two months ago, when the party, which proclaimed the fight against the oligarchs as its ideology, was headed by businessman Alexander Babakov. Mr. Glazyev did not even go to the congress that approved the new party leader. Nevertheless, he claims that he has no intention of moving to Baburin’s Rodina, although he supports the idea of unification. Sergei Glazyev stated that he was ready to do everything in his power to ensure that the reunification took place within the framework of the faction that was formed following the State Duma elections in 2003. At the same time, he noted that he had long been inviting all the departed deputies, that is, the Baburinites, to stop the civil strife and return to the Rodina faction. Moreover, now that the institution of co-chairs operates in it, rotation of management personnel is provided for, so “it is quite possible to find mutually acceptable, compromise solutions that allow everyone to work together, despite existing disagreements.”
At the same time, the leader of Rodina (Narodnaya Volya - SEPR) Sergei Baburin, who is now away, according to Vremya Novostei, is very dissatisfied with the zeal of his deputy in the faction Sergei Glotov, since he proposes to unite on the basis of radical opposition in relation to power. Mr. Baburin seems to be afraid to stand up in radical opposition to the Kremlin. Just like Mr. Babakov, who directly spoke during his appointment about the desire to make Rogozin’s “Motherland” a constructive opposition.
From the point of view of political will, nothing really stands in the way of the Rodin association. The split of the faction was necessary in order to punish Dmitry Rogozin, who caused discontent in one of the Kremlin towers. Now that he has left his post, the need for the absurd coexistence of two factions with almost the same name in the State Duma has disappeared. True, the Kremlin no longer needs the existence of “Motherland” itself. Because it took away the votes of the nationalist-minded part of the left electorate from the communists in the last Duma elections. And moderate nationalism is now in fashion among United Russia itself; according to some information, it plans to make the thesis about the “state-forming role of the Russian people” part of its official program.