Darya Garmonenko, Correspondent of the Politics Desk, Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Ivan Rodin, Head of the Politics Desk, Nezavisimaya Gazeta
Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, has appealed to voters for awareness as the country heads towards State Duma elections amid what extreme domestic and international conditions. These include the ‘dangerous social stratification of society’ and the rejection of a programme for the country’s leftward turn. Zyuganov separately asks for the support and trust of younger generations, which could alter the electoral balance. Meanwhile, however, he declares his loyalty to the course pursued by the Russian president. Even the CPRF’s most active regional branches display little real opposition. The Communists are conducting their election campaign as though they were a reserve governing party rather than an alternative force.
Zyuganov’s address, published on the CPRF website, opens with the words,
‘The hour of courage has struck on our clocks.’ This is because ‘for the first time in the past three decades, the State Duma is going into elections amid the most severe hybrid war and dangerous social stratification’. These words are followed by a direct indication of who is to blame: ‘Unfortunately, the Duma majority lacked both the courage and the wisdom to adopt our Victory Programme and save the country from the approaching threats.’
Thus, the CPRF leader directed his criticism primarily at United Russia political party, pretending that it alone was responsible for everything, while leaving aside both the government and, most importantly, the president, who, under the Russian Constitution, determines the country’s foreign and domestic policy. In his speech from the State Duma rostrum on July 27, Zyuganov quite openly confirmed that he was doing this deliberately.
As for his public address to Russian citizens for support and trust, this clearly election-oriented text says a great deal about the virtues of the CPRF programme. Yet it says nothing about why the left did not wage the most desperate possible struggle for that programme if it is now Russia’s only way out of an extremely difficult situation
The chief communist did, however, answer that question in his Duma speech. Whereas the address consists mainly of slogans, such as ‘Russia needs socialism! The very socialism that enabled Lenin, under extreme conditions, to create a mighty Red Army and Stalin to build a victorious military and industrial complex in the shortest possible time.’ It also contains a separate appeal to young voters, to whom Zyuganov addressed a somewhat unsuccessful metaphor.
‘If today you stand at a crossroads, like Vasnetsov’s legendary knight before the prophetic stone (Translator’s note: a reference to a famous Russian painting by Viktor Vasnetsov called Knight at the Crossroads), remember the words carved into it, “If you ride straight ahead, you will not remain alive, as there is no road for one on foot, on horseback or in flight.” So take the leftward turn, my friends! Only the leftward turn leads to truth, justice, kindness and friendship! Remember, today there are only two roads such as socialism bringing victory, independence and genuine sovereignty, or the oligarchic nightmare with its individualism, selfishness and uncertainty about the future. Remember one more thing: oligarchs have no motherland. They will take yours away from you as well! I am speaking to you very frankly. We need your support and your trust! Let us defend our motherland together!’ the CPRF leader said.
Nezavisimaya Gazeta decided to find out what other options had been inscribed on the stone signpost and concluded that Zyuganov may have known about them but decided it would have been politically inappropriate to mention them. The artist himself, as it turned out, wrote in a private letter: ‘The inscriptions that follow, “Ride to the right and you will be married. Ride to the left and you will be rich”, are not visible on the stone. I hid them under moss and partly erased them.’ So, the chief communist indeed could not campaign for a turn towards private wealth.
During his speech in the State Duma, Zyuganov repeatedly declared his loyalty to the president’s course, saying that the head of state determines strategy, while tactics are developed by the parliamentary majority in discussion with the minority. According to the CPRF leader, it was the State Duma that made the mistake of failing to adopt the programme for a leftward turn, meaning that the blame lies with United Russia. Yet he once again called on the ruling party to consolidate, something United Russia usually demands from all other political forces.
It means that the Communists have once again positioned themselves not so much as an alternative to the current social and economic course as to those implementing it, who merely carry out instructions from above. The left shares and supports those instructions while presenting itself as a reserve executor of presidential directives. The results of Nezavisimaya Gazeta’s analysis of the CPRF’s most active regional branches are therefore unsurprising. The party’s champions in terms of media presence appear to hold highly moderate positions. Their opposition becomes more radical only when local authorities decide, for some reason, to exert pressure on the communists. The most prominent regional committees do, of course, work conscientiously on acute regional problems. But this is by no means a political struggle. It is the standard tactic of constructive opposition, meaning attacking the authorities through the media and doing no more than that
The CPRF maintains a ranking of its most combative regional branches. Its top 12 are Khakassia, the Ulyanovsk and Saratov regions, Altai Territory, Buryatia, Dagestan, and the Vladimir, Irkutsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Novosibirsk, Moscow and Omsk regions. Of these, elections to regional legislative assemblies are being held this year in Altai Territory, Dagestan and the Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow and Omsk regions. The Altai Communists understandably appear the toughest. Their leader, State Duma deputy Maria Prusakova, has been forced to adopt a more radical position in recent months because criminal prosecutions have been launched in the region against both aides to legislative assembly deputies and the deputies themselves (see Nezavisimaya Gazeta, April 7, 2026). Spoiler parties have also appeared in the elections there in the form of Communists of Russia and the Party of Pensioners.
By contrast, the leader of the CPRF in Nizhny Novgorod, State Duma deputy Vladislav Yegorov, speaks on various issues in a restrained and balanced manner. The regional committee itself is demonstrating a high level of arranging an election campaign, while there is no visible or reported resistance from the authorities. For example, the region is not using the tactic of putting forward namesake candidates against Communist nominees. This differs from the Omsk region, where the largest number of such candidates has appeared, even though regional committee First Secretary and State Duma deputy Andrei Alyokhin is not known for particularly harsh or radical statements. By the way, the region has recorded a sharp rise in the number of candidates in a single-mandate constituency in the legislative assembly election, with 337 candidates registered for 44 parliamentary seats. Among the smaller parties, Communists of Russia and the Party of Pensioners are once again active. This apparently means that the Omsk authorities, like those in Altai, do not accept that the CPRF has the right to claim the status of a potential governing party. They are simply using tools of varying degrees of sharpness, or perhaps bluntness, to prevent it.
ORIGINAL: NG/Zyuganov Appeals to Voters and the President for Support and Trust
