Support The Moscow Times!

Communists to Join 'March of Millions'

The Communist Party will host rallies across Russia on Sept. 22. Above, demonstrators walking toward Red Square during a Communist Party event in 2006. Igor Tabakov

Communist Party members will join Saturday's "March of Millions" opposition protest, the party's local committee director said Wednesday, marking the first time since December that the Communists will participate in a mass anti-Kremlin demonstration under the party banner.

Valery Rashkin said Wednesday that Communists would attend Saturday's march

from Pushkin Square to Prospekt Akademika Sakharova because the party agreed with most of the goals of the protest, including early parliamentary elections and change in the country's political system, Interfax reported.

Rashkin said six State Duma deputies and three city lawmakers from the party — all from the Moscow party committee — would be in the Communist contingent at the march.

But deputy chair of the party's central committee Vladimir Kashin told Interfax that first secretary Gennady Zyuganov and other higher-ups did not plan to attend the event. Instead, they favored the party's own day of protests later this month.

Kashin also contradicted Rashkin's statement regarding the compatibility of the demands to be made at the opposition event with those of the Communist Party, saying they "radically differed."

Kashin said Communist Party rallies would be held Sept. 22 in cities across Russia, including on Ploshchad Revolyutsii in Moscow, to protest rising prices for utilities and Russia's accession to the WTO last month.

Related articles:

… we have a small favor to ask.

As you may have heard, The Moscow Times, an independent news source for over 30 years, has been unjustly branded as a "foreign agent" by the Russian government. This blatant attempt to silence our voice is a direct assault on the integrity of journalism and the values we hold dear.

We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. Our commitment to providing accurate and unbiased reporting on Russia remains unshaken. But we need your help to continue our critical mission.

Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just 2. It's quick to set up, and you can be confident that you're making a significant impact every month by supporting open, independent journalism. Thank you.

Continue

Read more