Far-right and Moscow elections

We are publishing a text dedicated to the participation of representatives of various nationalist movements in the events related to the elections to the Moscow City Duma in 2019. The text is based on daily monitoring materials.

The latest Moscow elections, which made so much noise last summer and ended on September 8, left few people indifferent, including some nationalist political groups.

Some of them became interested in the opportunity to get into the Moscow City Duma. Planned to run were representatives of the Right Bloc movement Vladimir Burmistrov and Dmitry Golikov, activists of the Permanent Conference of the National Patriotic Forces of the Country (PDS NPSR) Elena Rokhlina and Nadezhda Kvachkova, as well as a former member of the Rodina party, and now a supporter of the National Conservative Movement ( NKD) Alexander Bosykh. In the end, all of them were not included in the lists of candidates: Golikov and Rokhlina themselves refused to participate, citing personal problems and the high cost of the process, Burmistrov and Kvachkova were not registered, and Bosykh was unable to collect signatures. The only known nationalist who managed to break through was a member of the political council of the unregistered National Democratic Party (NDP) Nadezhda Shalimova, who was nominated in the 44th constituency. However, she lost the election, which she retroactively explained by the lack of funding and the “smart vote” of Alexei Navalny, who did not support her candidacy in the district.

Dissatisfaction with the current situation was mainly splashed out by nationalists on the Internet, but there were also those who considered the events around the elections a worthy reason for street actions.

For example, on August 17, a small group of representatives of the PDS of the NPSR took part in the rally "For Fair Elections", which was held by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, which was ideologically close to them, and those nationalists who in the past focused on cooperation with the non-systemic opposition attended actions organized by liberal movements: as agreed - July 20 and August 10, and no - July 27 and August 3. Among the participants could be seen small groups of activists from the Right Bloc (PB), the Nation and Freedom Committee (CNS) and the Popular Resistance Association (ANS), as well as representatives of other small groups and individuals from the far right of the political spectrum. Despite their small numbers, at unauthorized marches, the nationalists first joined the ranks of the detainees, and then the long lists of those who were “rewarded” for political activity with protocols on administrative offenses.

At the processions themselves, the nationalists did not particularly stand out from the crowd, although a few years ago they adhered to the opposite tactics, climbing onto street lamps, arranging mini-processions with chants, repulsing Alexei Navalny from the police, waving a rubber mask with the face of Vladimir Putin and taking other actions in order to they were noticed. However, two ultra-rightists still managed to distinguish themselves and get into many media outlets, albeit after their arrest: at an unapproved rally on July 27, ANS press secretary Nikita Zaitsev was taken to the police department, who for some reason opened his veins and called it " " radical protest "against the repressive policies of the state ", and Dmitry Demushkin, who was detained at the march on August 3, delighted the public with photographs from a paddy wagon, in which he was depicted together with the head of the Committee against Torture, Igor Kalyapin.

The ultra-right almost never carried out its own street actions dedicated directly to the elections, although there are several exceptions. One such exception was the strange one-man pickets of the Right Bloc, whose activists stood with a banner “#Allow”, often in unexpected places – either in unrecognizable squares and courtyards of high-rise buildings, or near the building of the Veterinary Academy, and one of them even carried out his action related to Moscow elections, the administration of the city of Karabanovo, Vladimir Region.

Another example of independent activity of nationalists was the uncoordinated rally of the PDS of the NPSR on August 25, when 20-30 people gathered at the monument to Cyril and Methodius. The rally ended with the arrest of two of the three speakers and one listener. Those who did not end up in the paddy wagon followed the detainees to the police station, led by one of the activists, who announced that he knew the address of the department, as he had been there more than once “on the blue melon”. Having crowded near the police building, the participants waited for their detainees, who were released with protocols of administrative violation. This event ended.

Some nationalists, as well as the liberal public, were outraged by the Moscow criminal cases initiated after the actions on July 27 and August 3, and joined the campaigns in support of their defendants. Their resources on the Internet published various materials on the chronicle of criminal cases, their supporters attended court sessions, and also participated in pickets demanding that scandalous cases be closed.

Special mention deserves a more radical move taken by Vladimir Ratnikov, who is in jail (who, we recall, was the leader of the Black Block national socialist movement before being arrested in connection with the creation of an extremist organization). In early August, Ratnikov went on a dry hunger strike demanding the release not only of those arrested on new cases, but of all political prisoners in general. The KNS, friendly to the Black Bloc, actively tried to disseminate information about this, but did not succeed very much and few people learned about the hunger strike. In the second half of August, the KNS posted a post with the poignant title “Vladimir, live!!!”, where he said that Ratnikov began to “take water”, because he was “convinced that our movement needs to be alive, and thus will bring more benefit to a just cause ! » However, the action did not have a resonance.

Those movements that do not focus on cooperation with the non-systemic opposition or the communists did not attend the rallies. Some, although they treated what was happening with some sympathy, believed that it made no sense for nationalists to put themselves under police batons for the sake of liberals who were not allowed to participate in the elections. Others, believing the liberals to be an even more hostile force than the authorities, even rejoiced at the confrontation between the two "enemies"; still others added a bit of conspiracy to the assessment of the situation, announcing that the authorities and the leaders of the liberals were in some kind of collusion, and everything that was happening was a performance to identify those who did not agree with the regime.

Almost no one approved Alexei Navalny's "Smart Voting" either, regardless of whether the movements cooperate with the liberal opposition or not. In general, almost everyone was outraged that the "Smart Vote" in many districts advocated communist candidates, whom the vast majority of the far right are not ready to support. Those nationalists who expressed support for certain candidates who did not make it to the Smart Voting lists were also indignant.

The NDP, which promoted Nadezhda Shalimova and campaigned for Roman Yuneman (30th district), whom, for example, Egor Prosvirnin considers a Russian nationalist, was definitely dissatisfied with, as well as the Right Bloc and the CNS, which called for voting for the ex-member of the New Opposition Vladimir Zalishchak (32nd constituency) and Sergei Erokhov (27th constituency) from the "Democratic Choice", who collaborated with the nationalists in the last elections and not only.

Navalny's agitation for the communists and the refusal to support "Russian candidates" provoked talk about the existence of some hidden agreements between Navalny and the Presidential Administration and, in general, a wave of criticism. Only those close to the communists, the PDS of the NPSR, were more or less satisfied, who, however, do not have warm feelings for Navalny himself and therefore did not advocate for Smart Voting. Of the well-known nationalists, only the leader of the CNS, Vladimir Basmanov, called for following the "Smart Vote", who, however, was guided by some almost Machiavellian logic, saying that " Navalny's "Smart Vote" should win the elections to the Moscow State Duma in order to show its harmful failure ."

It is worth adding that not all nationalists were interested in all the fuss around the re-election of the City Duma. Many almost completely ignored this political story, arguing in the spirit of "Elections, elections, candidates - ......".