Inarticulate Leader
It is not often that State Duma deputies are deprived of their mandates for absenteeism – the last time Ilya Ponomarev, later recognized as a foreign agent, was expelled “for systematic failure to fulfill his duties” in 2016. And the other day two more were seen out – Vasily Vlasov and Vadim Belousov.
With the latter, everything is more or less clear: in August last year, a Socialist-Revolutionary was caught taking a large bribe – more than 3 billion rubles Belousova, co-owner of the Makfa pasta factory, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. A few years earlier, the deputy was deprived of immunity at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office, so Belousov, having considered what was what, went on the run. It is noteworthy that the Social Revolutionaries themselves did not vote to deprive their comrade-in-arms of his mandate.
But with the expulsion of a member of the LDPR faction Vlasova – a completely different story. And it’s probably not about Vlasov, but about what the once respected party is turning into with the new leadership at its head.
The new “Zhirinovsky’s Falcon” will not take off
Vlasov is 28 years old; he joined the LDPR when he was 16 years old. Young and early – was a personal assistant Zhirinovsky (which gave rise to many rumors), led his reception, and in 2016 became the youngest deputy of the State Duma of the seventh convocation. The intrigue with the deprivation of the late leader’s favorite mandate is that the deputy practically did not skip plenary sessions. But at meetings of the commission on regulations, of which he was a member, Vlasov actually appeared infrequently. At the same time, Vlasov was by no means a passive “push-button pusher” – he was full of initiatives and, to the best of his ability, solved the problems of migrants from Ukraine and participants of the Northern Military District. And in Vlasov’s deputy reception you could sign up as a volunteer for the Wagner PMC. “Why did they decide to remove me? – says the former people’s representative. – Because Slutsky decided to remove me. He doesn’t need an active deputy. And I was removed because I raise the issues of the mobilized, about Wagner and about the prospects of veterans who were left without arms, without legs and without certificates.” What a turn!
It’s been a year and a half since the LDPR took charge Slutsky, and his colleagues still write about him “the new head of the Liberal Democrats.” There was such a type in the Union of Writers of the USSR – “young writer”, others were in the “young” age until 60. And now a year and a half of leadership passed, and Slutsky never showed up. Zhirinovsky was well known all the time and although at times he looked like a gay man, he almost always turned out to be convincing and intelligible to his voters, invariably leading the LDPR to victories in the elections. Slutsky is neither seen nor heard. Whether he is intelligible or not – go and find out. But the LDPR was (and remains) a party without an ideology, but with a bright leader in front on a white horse. Vlasov definitely lacked Zhirinovsky’s experience, his charisma, persuasiveness and general erudition. But he had more than enough energy.
Against the backdrop of this bubbling energy, many of his comrades looked pale. Yes, almost everything. Is it not for this reason that the party “rejected” the young and early?
A year and a half ago, Slutsky was put forward, as it were, “for growth,” so that he, having pulled himself up, would try to become on par with Zhirinovsky – figuratively speaking. But so far there is no progress to be seen. Looks like this bet didn’t work out? It would seem that if you can’t pull it off yourself, nominate new leaders, young ones, like Vlasov. Slutsky pushes them far away. And Vlasov, having handed over his mandate, began forming a new party – “under the roof” of the “Wagners”.
Take a broom and sweep up the excess?
A big flaw of the party leadership of both the LDPR and the Social Revolutionaries is their reluctance to deal with discipline violators within the faction. However, with Belousov it’s understandable. Before the verdict, the deputy regularly attended meetings and worked on the committee; no disciplinary issues arose against him. And when he went on the run, there was no one to address such questions to. Apparently, the Socialist-Revolutionaries did not want to offend a comrade who had been honored in the past – and they went so far as to raise the disciplinary issue head-on in a general vote.
Another turn with Vlasov. We repeat, he attended almost all plenary sessions. The leadership of the faction could well work with him, put him on the right path, so to speak, and explain what’s what. It is unlikely that Vlasov would have remained deaf – he dreamed of a deputy career, prepared for it and, as they say, was very sensitive to the wishes of the leadership. Here the faction clearly failed, but rather its leadership, which left things to chance.
By the way, the situation in the Liberal Democratic Party is similar in another sensitive issue – with “paid mandates”. There have always been a lot of rumors about this: the faction and its leadership are allegedly bargaining for mandates, giving away seats for indecently large “donations” to the black treasury. This does not reflect well on the reputation of the party. The ideal PR for Slutsky would be to take, figuratively speaking, a broom and sweep out of the faction, or better yet, from the party, the unnecessary people – slackers, crooks and idiots. Yes, somehow my hands don’t get around to it. And a cleansing of the LDPR is urgently needed. Recently, a deputy of the local Legislative Assembly was detained in Krasnoyarsk Alexandra Gliskova, who headed the local Liberal Democrat cell. He was sent to a pre-trial detention center for two months on suspicion of extorting a bribe. Back in the spring “Our Version” “researched” Gliskov’s person, recalling his past affairs, as if hinting that law enforcement officers should take a closer look at the deputy. But if suspicions arose among us, why did the party leadership not have them?
Expulsion “according to orders”?
Vlasov paid for the fact that he was considered a direct promoter of Zhirinovsky, the political scientist believes Alexey Makarkin. And the party could only have one person as “Zhirinovsky’s promoter” – its leader. Jealousy? It is possible, however, that the parties were “sent an order” – it is indicative to kick out one truant at a time, so that others would be discouraged. I remember when they kicked me out Ponomareva (recognized by the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country) as a foreign agent), deputies attended meetings and committees almost in full force for a whole year. The communists were not touched this time – the incident with Valery Rashkin and it’s just in time shot down moose The Socialist Revolutionaries immediately found a candidate for relegation. And in the LDPR, it seems, it took a long time to choose who they would “leave”.
Intrigue – will the expulsion of careless deputies be repeated in the near future? Judging by the mood of speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, anything can happen.
