Truth in the woods

On December 19, the second meeting of the Organizing Committee of the rally for fair elections on December 24 was held on Academician Sakharov Avenue. Initially it was supposed to take place on December 16, but did not take place - the host party refused at the last moment. The current meeting was held at the editorial office of the Sobesednik magazine and broadcast on the Ekho Moskvy website. The composition of the Organizing Committee has expanded during this time. Let us recall that at the last meeting, journalist and publisher Sergei Parkhomenko, co-chairman of Solidarity Boris Nemtsov, co-chairman of PARNAS Vladimir Ryzhkov, literary critic Grigory Chkhartishvili (aka writer Boris Akunin), journalist Leonid Parfenov, deputies from A Just Russia Gennady Gudkov and Ilya Ponomarev met at the last meeting (he also represented the Left Front, replacing the local press secretary Anastasia Udaltsova), member of the Public Chamber, lawyer Elena Lukyanova and journalist Yuri Saprykin were also expected. This time Gudkov and Ponomarev were absent (Gudkov promised to send his son, also a deputy from A Just Russia, Dmitry Gudkov, but he did not appear, and Udaltsova was present instead of Ponomarev), Lukyanova appeared, as well as completely new faces: poet and publicist Dmitry Bykov and journalist Olga Romanova. Journalist Oleg Kashin was also promised, but he did not appear. In addition, during the meeting, Chkhartishvili gave way to TV presenter Tatyana Lazareva (remember, at the last meeting he stated that he believed that he and Parfenov should be replaced by other members of the public, but other members of the Organizing Committee and the public on Facebook convinced them to stay). Secular journalist Bozena Rynska tried to participate in the discussion and immediately took Parfenov’s place when he left.

Parkhomenko, who chaired the first meeting, handed over the reins to Olga Romanova - however, when it came to including voting on the Ekho Moskvy website on important issues, he took charge of the process. Olga Romanova is the owner of an Internet wallet for which donations are collected so that the rally is prepared and equipped properly.

First, they discussed what should be done if the authorities did not respond to the demands of the December 10 rally on Bolotnaya. Chkhartishvili said that the reaction that has already followed can only anger the population even more. Parkhomenko spoke of the need to make an attempt to prevent Prime Minister Vladimir Putin from being elected president. Elena Lukyanova noted that the resignation of the head of the Central Election Commission, Vladimir Churov, which was demanded by the protesters on Bolotnaya, is legally impossible, since the Central Election Commission can only be disbanded by the court, in which only a third of the Duma deputies can be the initiators. Theoretically, if the entire factions of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and A Just Russia supported this idea, it would be possible, but there is no hope for this - “it seems that everything suits them,” Lukyanova said. She added that since the most violations in the elections were noted in Moscow, we should talk first of all about the cancellation of elections in Moscow and the resignation of the Moscow election commission - if the elections are canceled, then the court dedicated to the resignation should begin automatically.

Nemtsov, who attended a rally in St. Petersburg on December 18 and was booed (and before that was almost detained due to an orientation in which he was called the leader of extremists), indicated that the first ten rows at the rally on December 24 should be under special attention. Regarding Churov, he spoke in the sense that if the authorities want to remove the head of the Central Election Commission, they will easily do it. He also proposed adding to the Bolotnaya Square resolution the clause “We will not let Putin into the Kremlin!” Lukyanova stated that for violating election legislation in the form of a direct line with the population, one can demand a refusal to register (or cancel the registration, if it has already taken place) of Putin as a presidential candidate.

Udaltsova recalled that on December 21, mass demonstrations are planned near the building of the Duma, which is to begin work in a new convocation on this day, so the organizers of the rally should carefully consider how to act if the repressions continue. Let us remind you that Anastasia’s husband, Left Front coordinator Sergei Udaltsov, is in the hospital in serious condition - he was taken there from a special detention center, where he has been since December 4 and is on a dry hunger strike. Romanova pointed out that since the law does not contain the concept of “political prisoners” (the list of demands on Bolotnaya Square began with a call to release them), we can only talk about those who were obviously unjustly convicted.

Viewers of the broadcast on Echo were asked to answer the question of whether to include the slogan “Not a single vote for Vladimir Putin” in the list - 89% of voters supported this proposal.

It was decided to instruct members of the Organizing Committee - deputies from A Just Russia - to appeal to their colleagues in the Duma with an appeal to consider Bolotnaya’s demands at the very first meeting.

Further, Parkhomenko outlined a number of achievements related to the preparation of the rally - issues related to security, sound equipment, and finances. It must be said that the discussion of the technical part was much more calm and to the point than the discussion of political demands. Parkhomenko also recalled that a meeting with people who are ready to participate in the preparation of the rally in every creative way has been and will continue to be held at the Workshop club.

A dispute arose about the presenters. Nemtsov insisted that Ryzhkov be one of the presenters, as at the last rally. Akunin proposed the candidacy of Bykov, Bykov - Chulpan Khamatova. Elena Koneva, general director of the research company COMCON, who was present at the meeting, said that, according to the wishes of the people, it is necessary for the rally to be non-political, without the obvious priority participation of politicians, and greater success would be ensured for the rally if the leaders were the favorites of the people, not having nothing to do with politics. Nemtsov agreed that the rally was a public meeting and the presenters should be popular people, but he also held the position that the rally was a protest, and therefore political, and not having a politician in the role of one of the three presenters was stupid and wrong, especially since the speech was not It’s just about an entertainer, but about a person who feels the people and is brave, ready for provocations. As a result, it was decided to discuss two other candidates, in addition to Vladimir Ryzhkov, at the next meeting, which is to be held on December 23 at 15.00.

What followed was a vague discussion of possible speakers at the rally. The problem is that the main vote on this issue is taking place simultaneously in two different groups on Facebook, the lists of candidates in which partially overlap. Parkhomenko proposed taking the top halves of each list, compiling them into a final one, and launching it for voting again on one page on the same Facebook. Nemtsov recalled that lists were also being formed in the Initiative Group, which was supposed to meet for a second meeting in the evening of the same day. In addition, they expressed bewilderment that Putin, Churov and President Dmitry Medvedev appear on the lists on Facebook. As a result, viewers were asked to answer the question of whether these three individuals should be kept on the list of possible speakers. Those who did not want to see these names on the list won by a slight margin (53% versus 47%).

The initiative group actually met in the evening of the same day in the editorial office of Network Public Television (SOTV), from whose website a live broadcast was conducted. Nemtsov came to the meeting, chaired, as last time, by the leader of the Movement in Defense of the Khimki Forest, Evgenia Chirikova and Ilya Ponomarev. Present, in particular, were the leader of the United Civil Front Garry Kasparov, co-proponents of the rally from Solidarity Nadezhda Mityushkina and Sergei Davidis, the head of the movement For Human Rights Lev Ponomarev, editor-in-chief of the Daily Journal Alexander Ryklin, activists of Solidarity and the Left Front , as well as representatives of nationalist movements. It should be recalled that at the previous meeting of the Initiative Group it turned out that the nationalists submitted their notification to the same sites as the group of applicants for the rally “For Fair Elections”, however, as a result, almost no one was confused, and the representative of the Russian Social Movement Vladimir Tor sat behind Ilya Ponomarev’s desk, and even put forward seven alternative demands of Russian nationalists to the upcoming resolution of the meeting. The majority did not condemn this demarche either, and it was decided to discuss the resolution along with the demands of the nationalists, taking into account all questions and objections, and present the final version at the next meeting, which is to be held on December 22. It must be admitted that the nationalists’ demands do not contain any xenophobic statements and differ from the resolution by a call for Putin’s resignation, a more detailed provision regarding the reform of electoral legislation, and the repeal of the notorious articles 280 and 282 of the Criminal Code.

What caused the most controversy was the notorious list of speakers. A proposal was made and supported to include not only well-known individuals, but also organizations on the list. Of course, the issue of speeches attracted much more attention than the technical issues. At some point, passions became heated, after which Chirikova left the meeting, and Ilya Ponomarev was left to conduct it alone.