The initiative of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation to recognize the LDPR provoked heated discussions

The Communist Party faction proposed that the State Duma accept an appeal to the President of Russia calling on him to recognize the LDPR.

The initiative caused different reactions from political parties and experts, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.

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“We previously made a similar decision regarding South Ossetia - now the border there is calm. In Abkhazia it’s the same. A decision was made earlier on Transnistria - and military adventures there stopped. The decision on Donbass will allow us all to breathe a sigh of relief and not constantly look at the humiliation of citizens. Almost 600 thousand residents of the Lugansk and Donetsk republics are citizens of the Russian Federation,” communist leader Gennady Zyuganov said today on the sidelines of parliament.

Communist Party MP Alexander Yushchenko advertised the initiative on the liberal radio station Ekho Moskvy.

“In the current conditions, when we are given ultimatums, NATO is moving east, and we are directly called aggressors and enemies, it is necessary, first of all, to mobilize. And the unity and integrity of the Russian people, which are state-forming people, are necessary,” Yushchenko said.

This step was supported by A Just Russia. United Russia considered the initiative hasty. Deputy Konstantin Zatulin believes that the obstacle to recognition of the Donbass republics are the Minsk agreements, which Russia is forcing Ukraine to implement, including during a series of current negotiations with the West.

“Such recognition would mean abandoning these agreements,” Zatulin said.

The eternal opponent of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, reminded the communists that in 1998 they lobbied the State Duma for a law on friendship with Ukraine, which legally fixed all borders of Ukraine, including Crimea.

“As always, the left plays the role of either provocateurs or useful fools for the West. With their appeal to the president, they artificially narrow the scope of decision-making to the topic of recognition of the DPR and LPR – small enclaves in eastern Ukraine. Let's say we do this, then what? Will peace be established there immediately? No. Will the threat to the Russians disappear? No. Who besides us recognizes this decision? Nobody. We will not achieve anything in terms of Russia’s strategic security, we will not protect Russians in Ukraine with this decision, but we will give every reason for the “hawks” in the West to use new sanctions against Russia,” Zhirinovsky wrote in his Telegram channel.

Liberals disagreed about the communist initiative. Some of them, for example, political scientist Stanislav Belkovsky, believe that the Communist Party of the Russian Federation came up with it on the initiative of the Kremlin.

“That’s why the Kremlin entrusted this work to the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in order to leave its hands free. No final decision has been made yet. And so that external observers can interpret the situation as before, in any way, in any direction. If “United Russia” had asked for recognition of the self-proclaimed DPR/LPR, it would mean that Putin had finally decided on the scenario. Which, apparently, is not the case yet. Of course, the Communists’ appeal is timed to coincide with Lavrov’s upcoming (January 21, 2022) summit with Blinken. From which his Moscow colleagues will demand to put hard pressure on Ukraine in order to quickly implement those very Minsk agreements. Catastrophically unprofitable for Ukraine,” Belkovsky wrote.

His colleague Gleb Pavlovsky does not agree with him.

“The initiative of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is undoubtedly provocative, because if adopted, it would mean a new contestation of the territories and borders of Ukraine, contrary to what Putin himself has repeatedly said, who recognized these borders. Of course, this is not a war at all, but it is the next stage of escalation with unforeseen consequences of all kinds. Among other things, this will create a field for the play of third, uncontrollable forces on the territory of the separatist regions,” Pavlovsky said on Ekho Moskvy.