On Saturday, the Communist Party of Russia held rallies in Moscow and several other Russian cities in support of the all-Russia action for a dismissal of the Russian government. At a protest action in Moscow the Communists were gathering signatures not only for dismissal of Russia’s Cabinet, but also against the Russian Academy of Sciences reform. The Communists believe that they will gather about a million signatures in support of their initiative by this autumn.
The Communist Party of Russia has put forth a demand to dismiss the government after a bill for the Russian Academy of Sciences reform was passed in the State Duma, the Novye Izvestia daily recalled. After that the party has made up a list of ten reasons for the Cabinet dismissal. Now the Communist Party is gathering signatures in support of this initiative, including through the internet.
First Secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the Communist Party of Russia, State Duma deputy Valery Rashkin told the newspaper that the signatures are being collected throughout the country, and not only the Communist Party, but different initiative groups are doing this as well. “Over 63,000 people have signed for an initiative of no confidence to the government so far. We have launched this signup campaign just to find whether people support us,” he said. In the view of the lawmaker, no less than a million of people may sign the initiative by September. The response from the state authorities should also follow, the lawmaker believes.
Political expert Dmitry Oreshkin told the newspaper that a quite sufficient number of signatures will be gathered for a dismissal of the government, but it is already clear that this will end in nothing. “The PR campaign is launched in the way to gain some scores, not risking anything in particular. The Communist Party recalled that the government, contrary to the president, can be exposed to a criticizing campaign.