Political strategists conducted reconnaissance

On March 14, the head of Russian Railways, Vladimir Yakunin, a former employee of the Soviet station in New York, publicly sprinkled ashes on his head. In his LiveJournal, he disowned the report released by the Center for Problem Analysis and State Management Design, of which he is the scientific director. The report said that in the 2011 parliamentary elections, United Russia won only 20-25% (officially - 49.3%), the Communist Party - 25-30% (officially - 19.2%). And Putin in March - 52%, not 63.6%, as reported by the CEC

The author of the report and director of the center, Dr. Stepan Sulakshin, declined to comment. The New Times turned to his colleagues

There is no need to go through a false dilemma - yes, there are many complaints about the election results, all studies show that the results of United Russia should be lower than they are announced. But this does not mean that this report deserves a positive assessment. Nothing is known about the method of analysis, and the results of the study contradict all our data, so it all looks like a provocation. Such a provocation may be directed against the systemic parties, and may also be an element of the strategy of the radical federal elites, who believe that they should take advantage of the situation.

Perhaps there are those who believe that the dissolution of the State Duma and its early elections will help redistribute influence within the federal government and, as a result, get an even more conservative and reactionary Duma than it is now - fair elections are impossible today.

Formally, the dissolution of the State Duma will have a positive effect on Putin's rating. But to expect that all the negativity can be thrown off together with the dissolution of the State Duma is an illusion, a new campaign and scandalous results can be a blow in the stomach for the system. This is playing with fire.