Leaders of United Russia party have held a meeting to review the results of investigation into personal cases of seven members accused of damaging the party’s political image. No large-scale “cleansing” is planned: leaders insist that they want local party branches to be responsible, not cruel
In July, the Presidium of UR’s General Council decided it was necessary to improve the work of regional and local branches in terms of reviewing complaints from individuals, media publications and court rulings involving party members “discrediting” United Russia. The Presidium instructed six regional branches to review seven cases of party members who “damaged the political image” of the party.
But today, not all of the cases have been finalized. In Tver region, for instance, a few UR members are standing trial on corruption charges, including Tver’s mayor Oleg Lebedev, who is the party’s regional head. But the Presidium fell short of a verdict on any of the cases from Tver and some other Regions.
Four UR members breaking party discipline, though, were stripped of membership, including Dmitry Glotov and Yuri Stepanchenko from Primorye Far-Estern area. The two men are one the police wanted list – one for fraud, the other one for murder threats. Other members who were also expelled from the party include local officials standing trial or already sentenced by courts for tax elusion and other offences, or for breaking party discipline. Nikolay Didenko, the mayor of Nizhny Tagil, was stripped of UR membership because of numerous complaints from locals unsatisfied with the way the city was managed.
Party leaders stressed they are calling local branches to be “careful, but not cruel” to members undergoing investigation.
Sergei Popov, the head of UR’s central Revision Commission, called for constant monitoring of party members and said an inspection was planned in 25 regional branches by the end of the year. His deputy Valery Gelchenko said there should be no “cleansing campaign” in the party, but called for more attention to complaints from individuals or media publications criticizing the work of party members.
Vera Kholmogorova
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