Forceful fighting methods become know-how for the 2022 campaign

The authorities of the Pskov region are the first to attract security forces to eliminate their competitors. The Territorial Electoral Commission of Pskov asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs to check on the fact of forgery of signatures of the list of candidates from the New People party to the Pskov City Duma.

In fact, we are talking about the fact that the Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs will prove to the candidates that, according to their handwriting examination, it was not they who signed the documents.

This know-how was introduced by the new vice-governor, political strategist Alexander Seravin, who previously worked with the head of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov. A similar tactic was used in the St. Petersburg elections, but for the first time candidates are removed not by the hands of election commissions, but through criminal cases. Interestingly, the object of the attack was the New People party, a completely Kremlin project. It is still unknown why a conflict arose within the authorities, which required the intervention of law enforcement agencies. Perhaps the feds somehow offended the interests of regional officials and they decided to “show their teeth.”

It is unlikely that the force attack was agreed upon in Moscow. The transition to forceful methods of struggle is more like an attempt by the Pskov authorities to take the internal politics of the region under their tight control. But turning to the security forces is already the last line of defense, evidence that the system is stalling in the hands of the new vice-governor and that extreme measures have to be resorted to, since political instruments do not work well. Which in itself is extremely dangerous in the border region, where the socio-economic situation is not very good, and the political situation is even worse.