Page 35 - RusRPTApr21

that is likely to beat United Russia in an election, irrespective of which party they represent.
Team Navalny last week announced it was setting up a network of regional offices to contest the Duma elections in September and cause as much trouble as it can for United Russia.
The state is already preparing to contain the opposition’s efforts to disrupt the election and arrested all the participants of conference of opposition leaders at the weekend, who had met to discuss stagey for the autumn elections.
Police detained virtually everyone at the event, although most were released by the evening of the same day, but ordered to appear in court in the coming week. The event was attended by leading Russian liberal opposition activists, as well as several local deputies, in Moscow. The police justified the raid by saying the delegates were not taking mandatory coronavirus measures and that the summit staged by an “undesirable” organization linked to exiled former oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Several dozen officers reportedly entered the convention hall of the Izmailovo Hotel, in the east of the capital, shortly after the event started, interrupting the opening speech by the former mayor of Yekaterinburg, Yevgeny Roizman.
Footage from the scene showed one of the officers announcing that the meeting was illegal due to being staged by a “foreign agent” NGO, the activities of which have been deemed “undesirable” in Russia.
The organizer of the forum was listed as “Open Saint Petersburg,” an affiliate of the “Open Russia” organization, established by Boris Yeltsin-era oligarch Khodorkovsky back in 2001. At one time the world’s richest man under 30, Khodorkovsky was jailed by the Putin regime on fraud charges after he became involved in politics and challenged Putin. He was released after a decade and left the country to live in exile in London, according to reports. However, he continues to fund pro-democracy movements and Putin opponents.
The Levada poll points to deep dissatisfaction with Putin’s government. When including undecided respondents in the poll, United Russia’s figure of support drops to 27%, which marks a symbolic reversal of the support it gained following the reabsorption of Crimea in 2014, reports RT. In October of that year, the party’s unadjusted rating reached 47%, excluding undecideds. It had been as low as 25% in June 2013.
Over 80% of Russians support reunification of Crimea with Russia seven
35 RUSSIA Country Report April 2021 www.intellinews.com