United Russia Collecting Less Illegal Money for Campaigns But Turning to Administrative Measures More to Ensure Victories, Investigation Shows

Paul Goble

            Staunton, December 2 – United Russia has long relied on off-the-books and thus illegal election funds to support its candidates both to give them advantages and to get out laws setting limits on spending. In recent times, it appears to be collecting less, but as a result, it is increasingly turning to administrative measures to win, Andrey Pertsev says.

            On the basis of extensive interviews with past and present officials in United Russia as well as others familiar with the election scene in Russia, the Meduza journalist acknowledges that black box funding for United Russia has been reduced but says that this is leading the party to turn increasingly to falsification and other forms of administrative intervention.

            As a result, what could be and has been presented as a positive development has led to another than is anything but, Pertsev suggests. And he adds that despite Kremlin oversight, regional heads who know they are responsible for ensuring United Russia victories are prepared to take whatever steps are necessary (meduza.io/feature/2019/12/02/edinaya-rossiya-ispolzuet-nelegalnye-fondy-chtoby-obespechivat-pobedu-svoih-kandidatov-na-vyborah).

            In a detailed, 3400-word article, he says that must be kept in mind given that the party, which recently has lost support according to the polls, is committed to winning a constitutional majority of 301 or the 450 Duma seats in the 2021 elections. 

            Pertsev describes the way in which officials both in the Presidential Administration and in regional governments have collected funds from businesses and individuals and then allocated them between that which they acknowledge in public and that which they hide but feel compelled to use in order to win.

            Presidential candidates are allowed to spend 400 million rubles (6.7 million US dollars) on their campaign. Putin’s staff declared that they had spent 399.8 million rubles. But those knowledgeable say that in fact, unreported and thus illegal funding amounted to “several hundred million US dollars.” The situation in the regions is not dissimilar, Pertsev says.

            The Presidential Administration has overseen such collections, not only to ensure how much is raised and from whom but also to guarantee that additional funds go to those regions where United Russia candidates have been in the greatest difficult.  The system is at the edge of the legally permissible or even far beyond that, the journalist concludes.