The ruling United Russia party plans to open a school to train future party members, a news report said Tuesday.
Senior party figures told the Izvestia daily that they intend to open the school by the end of the month and that Dmitry Medvedev, prime minister and party leader, was expected to attend the school's opening in central Moscow.
Olga Batalina, deputy secretary of United Russia's general committee, told the newspaper that the school would not rent out its own premises but would use municipal schools and institutes to hold educational programs, seminars and training courses led by party bosses, political scientists and sociologists.
"The school's doors will be open for non-party members and volunteers. But mainly, of course, it's a base of personnel for United Russia," Batalina said, adding that the party's plans "demonstrated its prospects for the coming years."
United Russia first announced plans to open the school in the summer, although the plans were temporarily shelved in favor of a university to teach activists across the political spectrum to work together.
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