UVZ will hold a rally in Yekaterinburg in support of Vladimir Putin

A large-scale rally in support of presidential candidate Vladimir Putin will be held in Yekaterinburg on January 28. An application for it was submitted by employees of the Nizhny Tagil Uralvagonzavod (UVZ). Experts associate the political activity of UVZ representatives not only with the desire to show their devotion to Vladimir Putin, but also with the struggle for seats in the Nizhny Tagil Duma.

Yesterday, the Yekaterinburg administration received an application to hold a rally of up to 10 thousand people on January 28 in the square in front of the railway station. “The goal is a public expression of opinion about the support of the working people of the Urals,” Sergei Novgorodov, head of the department for relations with public organizations of the Yekaterinburg administration, quoted the application. According to him, there are no plans to block roadways. “The protesters plan to occupy the area where the parking lot is located. It will be possible to park cars in other places during the event,” he said. Mr. Novgorodov also said that usually 8-10 days before large-scale events, the administration holds a meeting of a special commission with the participation of the organizers, representatives of the Internal Affairs Directorate and the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate to “discuss issues of organizing security.”

The head of the UVZ committee in support of presidential candidate Vladimir Putin, Andrei Lenda (the organizer of the rally), explained that the main purpose of the rally was to express support for Vladimir Putin in the upcoming elections in March 2012. “We want those who support the prime minister’s course to come to the square next to the station,” he emphasized, adding that the slogan “For Stability” will become the main one. In total, the company employs about 70 thousand people. A Kommersant source in the UVZ management said that he knows about the workers’ intention to use one of the T90 tanks produced by UVZ at the rally. “But in order to do this, the management of the enterprise must agree on the removal of equipment,” he said. The traffic police department of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Sverdlovsk region explained that if armored vehicles participate in a mass event, the organizers will have to comply with certain transportation rules. “The movement of tracked vehicles on public roads is prohibited. It will be possible to transfer the tank only on a trawl and only with special escort,” the department noted. Mr. Lenda, however, denied information about the possible use of armored vehicles. “You see, a tank is already a call for revolution,” he explained.

Let us recall that Uralvagonzavod actively became involved in the political life of the country during a direct line with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at the end of last year, when an employee of the enterprise, Igor Kholmanskikh, expressed his readiness to help disperse rallies against election fraud. After this, a committee was created at UVZ in support of Mr. Putin, and the committee’s appeal to the working class of the Urals was published on the official website of the enterprise. “We remember well how in the 1990s, when the Nemtsovs and Kasyanovs worked in the government, we were not paid wages for months, factories throughout the country were closed. We don't want to go back! The Gorbachevs destroyed the USSR, but we will not allow the collapse of Russia!” - the appeal says. UVZ employees call those attending anti-government rallies “advanced slackers” and propose creating committees in support of Putin at other Ural enterprises. The Presidium of the Union of Defense Enterprises of the Sverdlovsk Region intends to consider UVZ’s appeal on January 25.

Doctor of Political Sciences Sergei Moshkin considers UVZ’s initiative logical. “In this way, the enterprise shows its commitment to the current government, which helped the enterprise get out of the crisis. In addition, from the point of view of the upcoming presidential campaign, United Russia shows that it is supported by the working class, and not by bloggers and office plankton who participated in protest rallies in December 2011,” notes Mr. Moshkin. According to the head of the Association of Political Consultants, Alexey Schweigert, for UVZ the rally can also be associated with elections to the Nizhny Tagil City Duma, where the enterprise is located. “The elections to the City Duma will be held simultaneously with the elections of the President of the Russian Federation, so it is beneficial for the management of UVZ to show their loyalty in order to receive support in the struggle for power in the city, where another large city-forming enterprise is NTMK, whose representatives will also fight for seats in the City Duma,” - notes Mr. Schweigert.

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