“Kommersant” got acquainted with the recommendations on working with voters, which the deputies of the State Duma from “United Russia” (ER) received “for the holidays” at the end of the spring session. The party leadership wants them to speak out in support of a special military operation, talk regarding the successes of the Russian economy and draw historical analogies between today’s fighting in Ukraine and the battles of Poltava and Stalingrad. Other Duma parties claim that their deputies themselves determine what to talk regarding with their voters during the parliamentary recess. The latter, however, may be slightly postponed: on Sunday evening it became known that the Council of the Duma on July 11 might decide on an extraordinary meeting of the chamber on July 15 to consider “urgent government initiatives.”
An extraordinary meeting at which deputies will consider urgent government initiatives may be scheduled by the Duma council for the coming Friday, July 15, and this, in fact, will delay the onset of regional weeks and parliamentary holidays by several days. However, United Russia deputies have already received materials from the party for work in the period from 11 to 31 July. Sources in EP shared their content with Kommersant. Recommendations on what to say and do are given to party members before each voter week. Recall that the last meeting of the Duma took place last Wednesday, until the end of July, the deputies were supposed to work in the regions, and in August they had a vacation.
First of all, United Russia members are advised to often express their support for the president and Russian servicemen participating in the special military operation of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine in their social networks, at meetings with voters, in interviews with regional media.
The “basic theses” are as follows: “the president has repeatedly stressed that protecting the people of Donbass is Russia’s duty; examples of meanness and atrocities that the Kyiv regime demonstrates every day confirm that the demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine is a necessary measure”; “The plans of the West to isolate Russia have failed, more and more countries in the world are realizing the whole pointlessness of the “cancellation” of Russia.” United Russia members are recommended to meet with NWO members and their families, thank them “for protecting Russia’s sovereignty”, provide assistance in solving everyday issues and present symbolic gifts. Party members are called upon to help collect and send humanitarian aid for Donbass, meet with refugees and help them find employment. According to the recommendations, all this should also be posted on social networks.
In addition, the deputies are expected to cover the “successes of the Russian economy.” They should tell how EP provides legislative support to all decisions of the president and government aimed at “stabilizing the situation”, as well as opening new enterprises and replacing foreign companies that have left the market.
Finally, party members were advised to pay attention to July 10, the Day of Military Glory, dedicated to “one of the most striking victories in the history of Russia – in the Battle of Poltava” (during the Northern War of 1700-1721 – Kommersant). “The renewed Russian army won an unconditional victory over the best European army of that time – the Swedish regiments of King Charles XII,” the materials say. The deputies were expected to draw “historical analogies with today’s events” in their publications. According to United Russia, then the “new Russia”, which under Peter I became one of the strongest countries in Europe, immediately came under pressure from the Western world (aggression by Sweden at the suggestion of Britain) and faced the betrayal of the Ukrainian hetman Mazepa. The main events of the war took place in “territories that, as a result of its results, became an integral part of Russia for centuries,” the recommendations suggest. United Russia is also reminded that following the Battle of Poltava, Mazepa “escaped” to Bendery and died a few months later, and “… today’s Ukrainian Mazepas, who sold the Ukrainian people for 30 pieces of silver, should understand that following a new victory for Russia, the same fate awaits them “.
On July 10, a message from its deputy head Andrei Isaev, dedicated to the Battle of Poltava, actually appeared on the Telegram channel of the EP Duma faction. In it, he, in particular, states that the current flag of Ukraine was born precisely as a result of the battle of 1709 under the influence of the state symbols of Sweden. And the head of the Duma Defense Committee, Andrei Kartapolov, spoke regarding the battle in his personal channel: Poltava, in his words, dispelled “the glory of the invincibility of Charles XII.”
A week later, on July 17, United Russia will have to remind voters regarding the 80th anniversary of the start of the Battle of Stalingrad and accompany their posts with the hashtag “ZaPobedu”.
On July 31, they will celebrate the Day of the Russian Navy and tell how it proved its effectiveness in Syria and continues to prove it during a special operation in Ukraine, where “today Russia is liberating the territories where the Black Sea Fleet was born from Nazi power.”
There is no obligation to strictly follow the recommendations, says the interlocutor of Kommersant in the party: “Those who do not have their own agenda, it is convenient to take ready-made manuals, and those who work in the region have their own topics.” In other parliamentary parties, “Kommersant” said that their deputies were not given auxiliary recommendations. According to a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, State Duma deputy Sergei Obukhov, Communist deputies independently take theses from the speeches of party leader Gennady Zyuganov at various events. Note that at the plenum of the Communists in early July, the latter accused United Russia of trying to monopolize the “Donbass agenda”, ignoring the merits of other parties (see the text on this page). Aleksey Didenko, the head of the LDPR central office, also said that the Liberal Democrats “sort out their regional agenda without a prompter.”
