Moscow, Putin attempts to relaunch 'United Russia'

Having abandoned the image of the independent leader, the president is once again campaigning for his party, which lags behind in the polls ahead of the September elections. His growing support for Defence Minister Šojgu, an expression of the "Eurasian" face of Russia.

Moscow (AsiaNews) - Marking "national flag day", on August 22, Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the leaders and "new faces" of the electoral lists of his party, "United Russia". The edinorossy (the members of the party, from its Russian name) discussed with the president the new social initiatives to be included in the program that will be presented on August 24 at the congress, where he himself will be present. At the last presidential elections Putin presented himself as an independent candidate above the parties; now instead his support will have to raise  the fortunes of the party in this campaign, which according to the latest polls has fallen below 30% of the consensus.

The most prominent of Putin's loyalists are involved in the implementation of the "people's program": Defense Minister Sergei Sojgu and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, but also the head of the main hospital Denis Protsenko, the director of the Sirius training center Elena Šmeleva and the delegate for children's rights Anna Kuznetsova. The new politicians on the launching pad, according to the Kommersant newspaper, are the coordinator of the "It's time to give birth" project Tatjana Butskaja, the chairman of the council of voluntary associations Artem Metelev, member of the Pan-Russian Popular Front (the pro-Putin coalition) Olga Amelčenkova and the head of the Front's youth sector Igor Kastjukevič.

The congress of the edinorossy has been scheduled in three stages: on June 19 the preliminary lists of candidates were composed, the second stage on August 24 is for the presentation of the program, and the third stage will be after the September elections. It is taken as a given that there will be no hiccups in winning the majority, since all independent and opposition candidates have been effectively eliminated, arrested or excluded from the competition.

Putin's visits must demonstrate unity with representatives and activists, to give meaning to the very name of the party and raise its popularity. At the first meeting in June, the president himself announced the first five names on the list, led by Šojgu and Lavrov, explaining that he personally participated in their selection. As social proposals, Putin outlined subsidies to be distributed to citizens, modernization of the health and public education systems, tax relief and aid for families, measures that he hopes will please a population increasingly tested by the health and economic crisis. Some, however, have noted that tracing every proposal back to the president may be a mistake, depriving the other candidacies of meaning.

Despite the great propaganda efforts, the July polls do not show significant growth for the edinorossy, and the last month of the campaign will be decisive. After the ruling party come the communists of the KPRF with 16%, up 2% on the previous month. The expectations of the presidential administration are of a participation in the vote around 50%, and a consensus for "United Russia" around 45%.

The figure of the president himself, in reality, appears today rather faded, perhaps also because of the repeated demonstrations of force and repression of dissent inside and outside the country. On August 19 it was one year since the poisoning of Aleksej Naval'nyj, who from the Vladimir's lager spread on the western media an appeal against corruption at universal level (of which the Russian president would be the main exponent). Putin will be able to exploit the sense of superiority towards the Americans after the collapse in Afghanistan: in the conversation with Biden he made it clear that Russia does not want the USA in Central Asia, but this argument does not warm the hearts of the Russians much.

These elections will therefore have the task of exalting one or more personalities who can support - if not succeed - Putin himself, an eventuality for which it seems necessary to be ready with a sort of "eschatological tension". Among the various hierarchs, the star that is shining brightest seems to be that of Sergej Šojgu. The Minister of Defence is a native of Tuva, an autonomous republic on the border with Mongolia, and presents the "Eurasian" face of bicontinental Russia. In the last few days he has proposed to build new cities in Siberia, maybe even moving  the capital of the Russian Federation there; in the meantime he has accompanied Putin in "extreme" trips on his native territories. On another occasion he nostalgically recalled the times of collaboration with Serbian leaders Slobodan Milosevic and Radovan Karadzič (convicted for crimes against humanity), to exalt Slavic pride in a provocative way. Today he appears as the greatest friend of the president, and therefore of all "United Russia".

• Russia
• Moscow
• elections
• Vladimir Putin
• United Russia
• Sergej Šojgu