"He wants his party"

It seems that Evgeny Prigozhin plans to gain control over “fair Russia”. And become a "roof" for its leader Sergei Mironov

In early April, four deputies of the Just Russia faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg announced that they were leaving the party-but they retain their mandates and intend to organize a new political project. In total, there are five deputies in this faction (in general, seats in the St. Petersburg parliament 50) - however, one of them, Mikhail Amosov, is not in the party itself; He is also going to participate in a new political project.

MP Marina Shishkina simultaneously resigned from the post of vice-speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Shishkina headed the St. Petersburg branch of the party since 2017. She explained the actual disbandment of the faction by the fact that in this way its participants opposed the change in the Strategy of “Fair Russia”:

Once I entered another party, socialist, social-democratic, on the title of which the idea of ​​social justice shone, and it solved the big problems of little people.

And I also joined the Party of Intellectual and Professional Politicians, born in open, tolerant and enlightened Petersburg. Unfortunately, recently, the current part of the party has shifted in the direction that did not correspond to my understanding of the idea of ​​justice.

Two months earlier, Shishkina openly said that she did not support the rapprochement of the leader of Fair Russia Sergey Mironov and the founder of the PMC Wagner , close to Putin, entrepreneur Yevgeny Prigozhin. Mironov really has repeatedly spoke approvingly about the mercenaries participating in the Russian-Ukrainian war. For example, he, speaking from the rostrum in the State Duma, called the PMC "heroic military formation." A few days after that, Mironov took a picture with the “ sledgehammer of Wagner ”, which Prigozhin sent him as a gift.

In an interview with Fontanka on March 1, 2023, Mironov called Prigozhin Zhenya and in every possible way emphasized their long -standing acquaintance: “I often call back with Zhenya, we correspond. He is a big professional. " Mironov argued that Prigozhin did not have “political ambitions”: “There is nothing agreements, joint political projects.”

Two sources of Medusa, close to the Kremlin, and one interlocutor close to the St. Petersburg authorities did not agree with this assessment. According to them, Prigozhin is “interested” by the Petersburg branch of “Fair Russia”, which is considered one of the most valuable assets of the party. In their opinion, in the future, Prigozhin may try to gain control of the St. Petersburg cell and use it as an additional tool in his confrontation with the governor of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov.

The Relations of Prigozhin and Beglov have long spoiled due to the reluctance of the city administration to “give” the structures of the businessman state contracts for large projects with budget financing. The creator of the PMC has repeatedly appealed to law enforcement agencies, demanding to institute criminal proceedings on Beglov, but so far he has not achieved any result.

Nevertheless, according to the interlocutor of Medusa, close to the St. Petersburg authorities, Prigozhin did not refuse to “attempts to influence the situation in the city” - and wants his position in the conflict with Beglov, including “announced from the rostrum of the Legislative Assembly.” “He wants to have his own deputies,” the source suggests.

The interlocutors of Medusa added that “Fair Russia” can be interesting to Prigozhin at the federal level. In the fall of 2022, Medusa already wrote that the founder of the PMC reflects on the creation of a conservative movement, which can then turn into a party.

“He is interested in politics, he has a pool of [politicians] technologists. Before the elections to the State Duma, hewas thinking about whether he would invest in his homeland as a political project at the federal level. As a result, he did not show zeal - apparently, changed his mind, ”says one of the sources close to the presidential administration (AP).

The interlocutors of Medusa, close to the Kremlin, noted that the Union with Prigozhin could also be beneficial to Mironov. They explain his interest in a possible alliance by the fact that the political influence of Mironov - very limited - has been kept only in the old acquaintance with Putin in recent years. In the 1990s, Putin, working as deputy head of St. Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak, was responsible for interaction with city deputies-and Mironov then held the post of vice-speaker of the Legislative Assembly.

“But there has been no more or less close relationship for a long time. Mironov should be needed by someone else. He needs a roof, ”the source of Medusa, close to the AP.

According to this interlocutor, at the same time the possible Union of Mironov and Prigozhin lobby lobbying to the security officials of the Just Russia apparatus, former military Ruslan Tatarinov. At the end of 2022, Tatarinov went to fight to Ukraine and still did not return from the front: “Tatarinov is familiar with Prigozhin, they have normal relations. In fact, before sending to the front, he was engaged in the operational management of the party. ”

At the same time, two more sources close to the Kremlin and the Medusa material surveyed for this doubted that the AP would allow Prigozhin to gain control of the parliamentary party. “Even as a tool against Beglov, they are unlikely to give a batch: Beglov has good relations with the [head of the domestic political block of the Kremlin Sergey] Kiriyenko,” the interlocutor, close to the political bloc, explained.

Another source close to the AP recalled that in 2019 the Kremlin no longer allowed control of the same “fair Russian” to the “Orthodox oligarch” Konstantin Malofeev. “He wanted his party, and not to sponsor the party for the Kremlin, these are different things. Prigozhin also wants his own party, ”the source added.

The interlocutors of the "Medusa" are characterized as "stretched" to Prigozhin. The publication “Important Stories” spoke about Prigozhin and Kiriyenko’s conflict due to the growing political ambitions of the founder of the PMC Wagner. Sources of Medusa confirmed this information: “Kiriyenko considers Prigozhin uncontrollable, and politics must be protected from such people.”

At the same time, even those “Medusa” interlocutors who are close to the AP, who believe that the Kremlin does not want to give the parliamentary party to the founder of the Wagner PMC, admit that it is difficult to “protect from Prigozhin”: “Everything will depend on success or failure at the front” (about how mercenaries are fighting, for example, in this “Medical” material).

Sergei Mironov himself, meanwhile, asked his former St. Petersburg deputies to surrender mandates (they refused), and also defiantly met with Evgeny Prigozhin. On April 10, a press release appeared on the party’s website that the party leader and the creator of the PMC discussed “issues related to the special military operation [war in Ukraine], the socio-political situation in the country and in the hometown of St. Petersburg.”

Prigozhin in response to the request of Medusa to comment on the meeting with Mironov and the interest in “Fair Russia” replied: “He went to Sergey Mikhailovich to wipe his legs on the rug lying at the entrance to his office with the image of the US president. We discussed what assistance he and “Fair Russia” can provide me with PMCs in his [special military operation], and after that they talked about events in the world, about women and all kinds of nonsense. ”

The Fair Russia party to the questions of Medusa did not answer this material by the time of publication.

Andrey Pertsev