Party “For the Family!” did not find a response in the Kremlin

On March 25, supporters of the leader of the Forty Sorokov movement, Andrei Kormukhin, held a founding congress, at which they announced the creation of a new party, For the Family!. News appeared in the media and anonymous Telegram channels that the creation of a fresh political force was allegedly agreed with the presidential administration of the Russian Federation (AP). However, the Daily Storm interlocutors from this structure reported that there were no negotiations with Kormukhin on the creation of a new party and the leader of the Forty Forties did not receive approval from the Presidential Administration.

The official explained to the Daily Storm that there are structures in the Presidential Administration that are directly responsible for interaction with political parties. But none of these responsible persons made any promises to the Orthodox activist.

“The main thing is that none of them called him (Kormukhin. – Note. Daily Storm) and did not invite him anywhere. And they did not provide any support to Kormukhin. If Kormukhin communicated with anyone here, it was solely on his own initiative and unofficially, without the knowledge of the leadership, ”the source emphasized.

Andrey Kormukhin leads the Forty Forties movement of Orthodox activists, many of whom already want to join the new party. The organization is also supported by representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church. At the founding congress of the party “For the Family!” the cleric of the church of St. Philip, Metropolitan of Moscow Igor Filonenko and Archimandrite Dorotheos (Vechkanov) delivered speeches.

Igor Filonenko, in an interview with the Daily Storm, explained that he attended the event not on behalf of the Russian Orthodox Church, but in private.

“I was an invited guest. This was my private visit. I am a spiritual missionary, I study different phenomena for myself. It became interesting to me that such a powerful movement is gathering, which is striving for politics, ”said the cleric of the Moscow Metropolitan Church.

In the ROC itself, they refrained from answering the question of Daily Storm whether they gave the green light to the creation of a new political party of traditionalists. The press service of the Moscow Patriarchate referred to an earlier comment by Vakhtang Kipshidze, deputy chairman of the Synodal Department for Church Relations with the Media.

“Without interfering in politics, the church has always supported the active social position of the Orthodox laity. Family values ​​are something that deserves attention as the goal of creating a party. Undoubtedly, much remains to be done in Russia to demarginalize the family and return it to the center of public life. I hope that the party “For the Family!” will contribute to this,” Kipshidze commented to TASS.

However, an anonymous interlocutor of the Daily Storm in the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church said that in fact the church is not going to support the new party.

“The Russian Orthodox Church does not support any political forces. <...> These are all some demonic inventions of Kormukhin,” he is convinced.

Andrei Kormukhin himself, in an interview with the Daily Storm, assured that the party is supported by a huge number of people, including those in the presidential administration.

“You know, we have a large presidential administration. I know people who in the AP also support our party and the theses that we declare in our program. How many people – so many opinions. I can’t name them for you,” the leader of the traditionalist party replied to the publication. “We are the president’s party and fully comply with the agenda that he has been declaring lately.”

According to Kormukhin, now the activists are preparing documents for registration of the party.

“Whether we are registered or not is all in the hands of God and in well-formed documents. We are now doing everything in order to register us. And then we’ll look. Then it’s up to the Ministry of Justice and then to the court, where we will turn if they don’t register us, ”the chairman of the party is sure.

Daily Storm sources present at the founding congress claim that Andrey Kormukhin assured them that the creation of the party was agreed with someone from the presidential administration, including the figure of Timur Prokopenko, deputy head of the department for domestic policy of the Russian Federation.

“There are people who really told us what Kormukhin told them: there is approval “from above” for the creation of a new political force. But they didn’t know that in fact, in the AP, he didn’t talk to anyone on this topic and no one gave his approval, ”a source in the presidential administration told the Daily Storm.

“No creation of a new party was discussed with Kormukhin. We don’t know where these rumors come from. Timur Prokopenko, the deputy head of the internal policy department of the Russian Federation, or anyone else from the Presidential Administration, did not communicate with him (Kormukhin. – Note. Daily Storm). Probably, Kormukhin himself is simply misleading people, ”the interlocutor from the Presidential Administration emphasized.

Earlier, anonymous Telegram channels wrote that entrepreneur Andrei Kormukhin is close to the presidential administration and enlisted its support. Insiders also noted that the Kremlin is discussing the possibility of creating several new parties in Russia at once, including a conservative one.