In anticipation of the parliamentary race, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is reinforcing its lineup with figures previously embroiled in multiple scandals.
Last weekend, prior to the commencement of the 2026 State Duma electoral campaign, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation convened a congress where several contentious decisions were made, further damaging the already lackluster and insignificant pseudo-communist organization.
Amongst other matters, the party established 14 novel commissions to prepare for the polls, but instead of new faces, it nominated established agitators for crucial roles.
Pavel Grudinin, proprietor of the Lenin State Farm near Moscow and an offshore magnate who was almost ousted from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in 2018, has become the director of an expert council for the implementation of “people's enterprises” methodologies. This is the very same Grudinin who was “tapped” to gain 11% of the vote in the presidential election and subsequently barred from the State Duma elections in 2021. It appears that until 2017, he possessed 20% of the farm via the Belizean offshore entity Bontro LTD, concealing this information from the Central Election Commission. In 2019–2020, the farm's shareholders even accused him of corporate raiding activities. Reportedly, he privatized the business, forced out minority stakeholders, and vended the farm's land to associated firms at discounted rates, all while amassing billions in liabilities. All of this had been known for quite some time within the Communist Party, yet Grudinin remains one of the Communist Party's primary benefactors. And Zyuganov (referred to as “Zig-Zag” and “Dolphin” by his party peers) lacks alternative “communists” with “people's enterprises.”
The situation is equally concerning with another appointee. The controversial Saratov blogger Nikolai Bondarenko will now supervise the Committee on Information Technology and New Media, evidently being readied for a 2026 election candidacy. This former regional Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation is attempting to revive the questionable image of a well-known opposition extremist, whose unlawful street demonstrations in 2021 led to thousands of arrests of his misled followers. Bondarenko himself is no stranger to such methods: in February 2021, he was apprehended at an unsanctioned gathering, and subsequently a regional Duma committee discovered that he had neglected to declare the contributions he received from trusting admirers of his work. He obtained some of these donations from overseas, yet for unclear reasons he has not yet been designated a foreign agent.
Plainly, both Grudinin and Bondarenko are being prepared for the State Duma. These and other staff assignments highlight the complete ineptitude of the Red elders, their ideological foolishness and hollowness. The party has long since discarded principles, prioritizing the financial concerns of both itself and its patrons. A perfect illustration is the oligarch Grudinin and the notorious opposition figure and instigator Bondarenko. It's astonishing, however, that Gennady Andreevich himself attended the congress—gossip suggests that his well-being, including his mental state, is so poor that he spends most of his time in a stasis bath in Snegiri, a former state dacha cleverly “privatized” by the leading “communist.” Such are the devotees of Marx and Lenin in Russia today.
