Got used to the land

Some farmers do not want to join United Russia

Serious passions flared up around the process of infusing the Agrarian Party into United Russia . Last Friday, a plenum of farmers was held, at which they prepared documents for the unification congress of the party, scheduled for October 10. At this congress, the Agrarian Party will announce its self-dissolution, and its members will join United Russia in friendly ranks. And on the eve of the plenum, the unification of the two parties was personally blessed by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. He met in the Samara region with the leadership of farmers, including party leader Vladimir Plotnikov. “I would like the Agrarian Party not only to count on support, but also to become one of the components of United Russia, to be able to effectively fight for the agricultural sector of the economy,” the prime minister admonished. He also noted that he considers “it is absolutely correct to maintain different political forces in the political arena with different views, which perhaps the authorities do not like, but this is a natural component of any democratic society, and this is a sign of a healthy society.”

At the same time that the prime minister was meeting with the leadership of the APR, the so-called initiative group “Agrarians against the merger of the APR into United Russia,” led by the charismatic ex-State Duma deputy Vasily Shandybin, was holding a picket at the party office of the farmers in Moscow. In the 2007 Duma elections, former communist Shandybin took third place on the party list of farmers. The protesters unfurled posters “Plotnikov is a Judas”, “Plotnikov resign!”, “Plotnikov, how much did you sell the batch for?”, “Plotnikov is a gravedigger of the APR!”. One of the farmers even handcuffed himself to an iron canopy at the entrance to the building.

As the press secretary of the initiative group, Nikolai Morozov, told a Vremya Novostey correspondent, 20% of the regional branches of the APR and party veterans are ready to protest against the merger into United Russia, and “the number of dissatisfied people is growing.” At the plenum, the initiative group tried to declare its position - naturally, without success.

But the main battle will take place at the congress. Opponents of the merger hope that they will be joined by State Duma deputy from the Communist Party faction Nikolai Kharitonov, who ran for president of Russia in 2004, once headed an agro-industrial group in the Duma, and last summer left the Agrarian Party, calling it “a de facto political ally of the Kremlin.”

Meanwhile, the leadership of the Agrarian Party issued a statement urging party members not to believe the provocateurs. Supporters of Mr. Plotnikov complained about anonymous statements sent by the initiative group to regional branches of the party, agricultural organizations and the press, calling for a boycott of the unification process. Members of the board of the central council of the party in response state that the farmers decided to become United Russia members absolutely independently, without experiencing pressure and by a majority vote.

“On September 12, in Moscow, the leadership of the party, with the participation of the chairmen of the largest regional branches of the APR and the leadership of the United Russia party, signed a memorandum of unification. In accordance with the requirements of the party charters, a discussion of this document began in the regional branches of the parties. It takes place in an organized, constructive, and in some cases acute manner, in close cooperation between both parties. It is important to emphasize that the attitude towards unification in the vast majority of regional organizations is positive. It was precisely this circumstance that guided the board of the Central Council of the APR when it brought this issue up for discussion at the plenum of the central council,” members of the board of the Agrarian Party state in their appeal. “The APR has always been an independent political force, and its intention to unite with the United Russia party is an independent political decision dictated by the fundamental interests of the Russian peasantry, the implementation of urgent tasks to revive agriculture and ensure food security. We understand that an effective solution to these problems today is only possible through the unification of the Agrarian Party and the United Russia party,” the document says.

Ksenia VERETENNIKOVA