Going against Putin? – The head of Transnistria is betting on the communists
The head of Transnistria (PMR) Yevgeny Shevchuk, on the eve of the upcoming presidential elections of the PMR in December, is actively meeting with representatives of the Russian opposition from the Communist Party. But communication with deputies from United Russia - the party of Russian President Vladimir Putin - either does not work out, or the Pridnestrovian leader does not want it.
Evgeny Shevchuk last Friday, September 2, held a meeting with Russian communists. The delegation includes deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation from the Communist Party faction Kazbek Taisaev and deputy of the legislative assembly of the Irkutsk region, communist Mikhail Shchapov. The First Pridnestrovian Channel made this event the main news of the day. Communist Kazbek Taisaev did not skimp on words of support for Yevgeny Shevchuk:
“Today the leadership of the faction also conveyed greetings, and Gennady Zyuganov (the leader of the Russian communists) was interested in how things were going here. We see that a lot of work is being done. Every year during our visit we see something new and good, a clean and developing city, kindergartens, and the fact that 150 more children went to school this year than last year was pleasing.”
Yevgeny Shevchuk made it clear that attention from Russian communists is of particular importance to him: “It is very good that you are with us, nearby, and providing assistance and support to Russian citizens living in Transnistria and all Pridnestrovians. You come here often and regularly. This makes us happy, we intend to continue to develop interaction with you as a member of the State Duma, I think that cooperation will expand.”
Meanwhile, Kazbek Taisaev has yet to confirm his status as a State Duma deputy in the parliamentary elections that will be held in Russia on September 18.
For his part, Irkutsk communist Mikhail Shchapov promised to establish trade turnover between Pridnestrovie and the Irkutsk region: “The goods that are produced here: light industry, fruits and preservatives are very necessary for the Irkutsk region, since they are imported to us from other countries, Central Asian. They are not of very good quality and are inferior in quality to your products. Therefore, it would be great if, through these agreements, all this was present on our shelves, goods from Transnistria and from Bendery, in particular.”
The Irkutsk region is headed by communist Sergei Levchenko. The governor is being attacked by opponents - they have begun collecting signatures for his resignation.
A day earlier, on September 1, communist Kazbek Taisaev, together with the President of Transnistria Yevgeny Shevchuk, took part in a solemn meeting dedicated to Republic Day. The meeting was also attended by members of the Government and the Supreme Council, representatives of public organizations and guests from friendly Republics.
Russian communist Kazbek Taisaev, speaking at the gala event, gave a very high assessment of the activities of Yevgeny Shevchuk: “Today is the Day of Knowledge. We were in 12th school. We saw the happy eyes of your children. I believe that this is the highest assessment of the activities of the President, his team and you, my dear President. Thank you for being you, for what you do. Russia has always been close to Pridnestrovie and will always be with Pridnestrovie.”
It seems that President Yevgeny Shevchuk prefers to receive words of encouragement from the Russian opposition. Why do visits to the Republic of representatives of Vladimir Putin’s party, United Russia, go unnoticed?
So, on the 20th of August, a delegation of deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation from the United Russia faction visited Pridnestrovie. Among them are deputies Sergei Chizhov, Artem Turov and Oleg Konkov. Parliamentarians came to see how the Republic is preparing for the upcoming parliamentary elections in Russia on September 18.
There are 180 thousand citizens of the Russian Federation living in the PMR, who have the right to elect representative bodies of power of the Russian Federation; all of them should have the opportunity to freely make their choice on voting day on September 18. Deputy Oleg Konkov explained the purpose of the visit: “We are a party for stability and for development, and I would also say: we are Putin’s party. In this regard, we must bear responsibility for what is happening here, and we will bear it.”
By the way, in 2011 there were 24 polling stations on the territory of Transnistria. 52 thousand citizens of the Russian Federation took part in the voting, two-thirds of them voted for “United Russia”. At the upcoming parliamentary elections in Transnistria, 22 polling stations will be opened.
Russian deputies also held meetings with Pridnestrovians at the public reception of United Russia, which opened in Tiraspol in July. During this time, over a thousand people came to the reception. It is noteworthy that the doors of the reception are open not only to Russian citizens, but also to all other residents of the Republic.
United Russia deputies managed to resolve some of the requests of Pridnestrovians right during the reception of citizens. A variety of topics were raised at the meetings: access to medicine, social benefits, housing and communal services.
However, more than anything else, Pridnestrovians are concerned about obtaining Russian citizenship. Now this procedure is seriously complicated for those residents of the PMR who previously obtained Moldovan or Ukrainian citizenship in order to freely move to neighboring countries or were born after the collapse of the USSR.
“Of course, we as parliamentarians must find a way out of this situation and, possibly, make changes to the legislation. Regarding the requests received today, we will individually try to resolve these issues through the Russian Foreign Ministry,” Sergei Chizhov promised.
In Tiraspol alone, representatives of the delegation received about a thousand appeals, not one of which, according to the assurances of United Russia, will go unnoticed. Although, in fact, the problems with obtaining citizenship should have been resolved by the head of the Republic, Yevgeny Shevchuk, who, inappropriately and inappropriately, echoes unity with Russia.
However, for example, the President of Transnistria did not want to meet with representatives of the Russian delegation from the pro-government United Russia party. The parliamentarians were received by the Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic Vadim Krasnoselsky. The visit of Russian deputies and the First Pridnestrovian Channel, which is controlled by the head of state, were ignored.
Is it possible that Yevgeny Shevchuk deliberately maintains a position of distancing himself from representatives of the pro-government United Russia party, and, on the contrary, is ready to accept all kinds of support from the Russian opposition represented by representatives of the Communist Party?
There are rumors in Tiraspol that political strategists recommended this behavior scenario to the head of Transnistria. They developed a full-fledged concept for Shevchuk’s election campaign.
Previously, this document was published for internal use in the Internet publication “Russian WikiLeaks” (https://weekleaks.me/). Political strategists are concerned about the extremely low rating of the head of Transnistria. According to data from the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM), only 11% of residents intend to vote for the current head of the Republic in the upcoming presidential elections in December. At the same time, Shevchuk leads the “anti-rating” of candidates by a wide margin. Half or 50% of respondents would never vote for him. (https://wciom.ru/index.php?id=236&uid=115738).
It should be recalled that VTsIOM is one of the largest and most respected sociological companies in Russia.
According to the same VTsIOM, the chairman of the Supreme Council of the PMR, Vadim Krasnoselsky, enjoys the greatest support from voters. 24% of respondents are ready to cast their votes in his support.
Yevgeny Shevchuk’s political strategists are concerned about the strengthening consolidation of the electorate around Vadim Krasnoselsky. In their concept, they propose to nominate dummy candidates, so-called spoilers, who will be able to drag the opposition agenda onto themselves and divert attention from the main favorite of the race, Krasnoselsky.
These measures, in their opinion, will disperse the electorate. It was proposed to involve communist Oleg Horzhan as the main spoiler in the election concept. It was planned to attract the most powerful resources to promote it. For this purpose, apparently, even representatives of the Russian Communist Party, to whom Shevchuk showed so much of his personal and media attention, were even invited as heavyweights.
On the other hand, such a reverent attitude of Yevgeny Shevchuk towards Russian communists is apparently dictated by the understanding that the official Russian authorities are no longer ready to support the current head of the Republic in the upcoming presidential elections, which will take place in December of this year.
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