Not ours - dumb

During the presidential campaign, the Levada Center will conduct polls on the topic of electoral preferences of Russians, but will not publish their results. This was stated by the director of the NPO Lev Gudkov, reported "Vedomosti".

The Levada Center is recognized as a “foreign agent”, and under the electoral legislation, such organizations cannot in any way participate in elections and referenda. "Violation of the law threatens with fines and even the closure of the organization," Gudkov noted.

According to Gudkov, the law on "foreign agents" was originally aimed at displacing alternative interpretations and independent sources of information. "With the VTsome, our data differed insignificantly, the discrepancies were in the nuances. Although we have the results (pro -government parties and candidates. - Ed) have always been lower," Gudkov said.

Meanwhile, the discrepancies of these surveys of the Levada Center and the state structure of the VTsIOM can vary significantly. So, according to the last survey of the Levada Center, conducted before the start of the presidential campaign in December, 28 percent of voters intended to vote , “most likely” - 30 percent. VTsIOM assessed these categories, respectively, at 70 and 11 percent.

According to the source of the publication close to the presidential administration, in the Kremlin they are guided by the results of the VTsIOM poll and the Public Opinion Foundation, also controlled by the state. In addition, the Federal Security Service conducts its polls. According to the source, the FSO always has interest lower than that of VTsIOM and Thomas. FSO polls data are usually not released, VTsIOMA and Thomas are published selectively. “If the numbers are published, it means that such a decision is made, because during the elections the publication of indicators is, in fact, a kind of forming phenomenon that affects the electoral opinion,” the source noted.

On September 5, 2016, the Levada Center was declared an “agent” . The decision of the Ministry of Justice was made by the denunciation of Anti -Maidan , filed in mid -July. Black Hundreds assured that the Levada Center "conducts research on the US Department of Defense by order of the University of Wisconsin." "By order of the American military," said in denunciation, NPOs "collected information in Moscow and regions."

The media associated a denunciation with the publication of the Levada Center of the results of a study on the perception of the country's country by marsh business. As the study showed, 54 percent of the respondents believe that this case was fabricated in order to intimidate the opposition community.

On January 13, 2017, the Levada Center filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights in connection with the inclusion of “foreign agents” in the register. "We filed a complaint with the ECHR on violation of two articles of the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights," said lawyer Ilnur Sharapov, who represents the interests of the Levada Center. According to him, we are talking about Articles 11 (violation of the right of assembly) and 14 (discrimination in the field of activity).

On May 15, the organization appealed in the Constitutional Court the amendments to the law on non -profit organizations adopted in June 2016, according to which the implementation of hundreds of questioning is equated with "political activity". According to Gudkov, the NPO law acquired a "clearly unlawful character."