Sobchak Against The Boycott
On February 8, candidate Ksenia Sobchak posted on her Ekho Moskvy blog her case against opposition leader Aleksei Navalny's call for an election boycott.
She argues that a boycott only helps the authorities, saying that if democratically minded people stay home, the percentage of votes for President Vladimir Putin will only increase. "The authorities will act in the future based on this [outcome], tightening the screws further and all the time saying they have 'national support,'" Sobchak wrote.
On the contrary, she says that if liberals can boost the turnout, there is a chance Putin will get less than 50 percent and force a second round of voting.
Navalny, who was disqualified from running because of an embezzlement conviction that he says was politically motivated, has argued that the election is a sham, calling it "the reappointment of Putin."
'Putin In A Skirt'
Candidate and socialite Ksenia Sobchak continued her strange visit to the United States, just weeks ahead of the vote in Russia, by attending a national prayer breakfast in Washington.
In this BBC report, she makes the memorable statement: "I really don't want to be seen as Putin in a skirt. I want to be seen as Ksenia Sobchak, which is who I am.
- By Mike Eckel
Russians Not Satisfied With Status Quo, Fear Change
Veteran Russian journalist Andrei Kolesnikov has cowritten a report for the Carnegie Endowment For International Peace, exploring a August 2017 survey, conducted with the Levada Center, of roughly 1,600 Russians. The survey found that many Russians don’t want profound changes and but also that increasing numbers also don’t support the status quo, albeit for differing and sometimes conflicting reasons. In this panel discussion on February 8, Kolesnikov discussed the findings in more depth.
RFE/RL Russian Service correspondent Yelena Rykovtseva sat down with political scientists Aleksandr Kynev, Vladimir Semago, and Mikhail Tulsky to discuss the final list of eight presidential candidates and the course of the election campaign so far.
At one point, RFE/RL asks whether Putin will hold on to the presidency until he dies. Kynev says he thinks Putin will leave office in 2024, as the constitution requires, but will remain as a powerbroker. "Various options will be discussed, but I think it will involve the preservation of the current governing model," he said. "The post of president, I think, will remain. They are unlikely to cancel that. But what is possible is the redistribution of roles among political institutions. That, I think, is realistic."
Путин и семеро хотят
Елена Рыковцева: Сегодня праздник у ребят. Мы хотим поздравить всех россиян с тем, что они наконец-то получили избирательный бюллетень, в котором наконец-то зафиксированы все 8 фамилий кандидатов в президенты Российской Федерации. Мы теперь понимаем, о чем говорим, не гадаем на кофейной гуще, не думаем, у кого сколько шансов, кому забракуют подписи, а кому, наоборот, пропустят все, что он насобирал. Мы обсуждаем эти 8 фамилий со знанием дела. С нами Владимир Семаго. С нами на связи Александр Кынев. Вы сегодня, наверное, тоже поражены тому, что сегодня увидели, – это такой сюрприз для вас как для политолога, этот список?
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- By Mike Eckel
'Proactive And Preventative' Election Monitoring
Golos, a Russian NGO, has long been respected as one of the country’s premier election monitoring organizations. The group was hit with “foreign agent” label in 2014, on account of some of the foreign funding it has received, a label that has hampered some of its operations. Still, last month, Golos accused state-controlled TV networks of delivering free campaign advertising for President Vladimir Putin ahead of the March presidential vote.
In an op-ed published this week in the Moscow Times, the group’s co-chairman Grigory Melkonyants called for extra vigilance to ensure that government does not try to artificially boost turnout.
More On Prikhodko
One might think that the revelations about Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Prikhodko that were released by anticorruption activist Aleksei Navalny on February 8 might have some effect on the presidential election less than six weeks away. The fact that they haven't and won't is a clear sign of the nature of the election.
Urals-based journalist and blogger Aleksei Shaburov (here is an RFE/RL interview with him from January 2016) has written a tight analysis of the significance of Navalny's revelations, including the fact that Prikhodko evidently conducted a secret meeting about Russian foreign policy on the territory of a NATO country, Norway.
"Obviously Prikhodko could not fly to Norway secretly: border guards definitely knew about his movements and, possibly, the Norwegian security services. Doesn't this put Russia's national security in danger?" Shaburov wrote.
The Deputy PM, The Oligarch, And His Lover: New Navalny Exposé Highlights Tycoon's Ties To Kremlin Bigwig
By Mike Eckel
Oleg Deripaska is a billionaire Russian metals tycoon who throws lavish parties in Davos, Switzerland, has been barred from the United States, and has done business with President Donald Trump's now-indicted former campaign manager.
He's also well connected with the Kremlin; Russia's foreign minister once helped him in efforts to persuade U.S. government officials to grant him a visa.
Now, according to a new exposé published by anticorruption crusader Aleksei Navalny, there's more evidence of Deripaska's close government ties.
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Communist Base Reacts To Grudinin
There are several stories on how Communist candidate Pavel Grudinin's candidacy is playing with the party's base. In Republic.ru, political analyst Aleksandr Kynev argues that it could radicalize the party.
And in Nevavisimaya Gazeta, Aleksei Gorbachyov reports that it could lead to a schism.
Zhirinovsky Vs. Animals
Candidate Vladimir Zhirinovsky has a long record of making outrageous statements on topics from women to nuclear weapons. Some animal lover collected a sample of clips showing the perennial presidential candidate's attitude toward animals over the years.
In the first clip he brags that on the second day of his presidency, all stray dogs will be destroyed -- "In one day."
Other clips show a younger Zhirinovsky shooting a gun out of a moving train, something he calls "VIP hunting." In one of them, he shoots a chicken.
In the final clip, he describes shooting a bird, saying: "I feel that I am stronger than the bird. That I am a person."