Murayev launches Putinist party in Ukraine

MP Yevgeny Murayev announced on Sept. 27 that he has
launched a new pro-Russian party, Nashi, to compete in the 2019 elections. He
revealed few details so far but called upon his supporters to join. Murayev’s
political positions are fully in line with Russian President Putin’s positions
on Ukraine, including opposing Ukrainian membership in the EU and NATO and surrendering
Crimea to Russia. He has accused the Ukrainian government of not wanting to
fulfill the Minsk Accords to resolve the armed conflict in Donbas, and has
referred to political prisoner Oleg Sentsov as a terrorist for part of the
population.

Murayev has indirect control of the NewsOne television
network, which has been attacked, verbally and physically, by nationalists for
its pro-Kremlin positions. He announced on Sept. 23
that he was abandoning the For Life party, where he served as political council
head, indicating that its leadership was considering merging with the
Opposition Bloc, a more centrist, Russian-oriented party.

Zenon Zawada: It’s no
coincidence that Murayev’s new party shares the same name as the youth movement
launched by Putin in Russia in 2005. The most likely scenario in Ukraine’s
Russian-oriented political landscape is the emergence of three parties: a
centrist party led by Oleksandr Vilkul and sponsored by Rinat Akhmetov, a
pro-Russian party led by Yuriy Boyko and sponsored by Dmytro Firtash and Viktor
Medvedchuk, and Murayev’s radical Putinist party.

The projects led by Vilkul and Boyko have strong
chances to qualify for parliament, giving their access to vast resources, much
of which have been inherited from the defunct Party of Regions. Murayev’s
project, however, is unlikely to qualify, giving its radical positions and
limited resources, beyond his television network.