MOSCOW, June 15. /TASS/. President Vladimir Putin still intends to personally attend a convention of the United Russia political party in Moscow despite the recently heightened anti-COVID-19 measures in the Russian capital, Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
"Yes, it [his attendance] is still on the schedule considering the measures in force," Peskov told journalists in response to a question whether the Russian president was still planning to be at the convention of Russia’s ruling political party on June 19 in view of the current epidemiological situation in Moscow.
A source in the United Russia party told TASS earlier that there were no plans to postpone the party’s pre-election convention on June 19 considering the recently introduced measures in Moscow against the spread of the novel coronavirus and the announcement of the so-called "long weekend."
On Saturday, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin declared paid, non-working days in the city from June 15 to 19 to curb the spread of COVID-19. Moscow’s restaurants, cafes, bars, nightclubs, karaoke clubs, bowling alleys were ordered to be closed to customers from 11.00 p.m. to 06.00 a.m. Moscow time between June 13 and 20, except for takeaway services.
In line with the law, 25 days after a presidential decree on the organization of the parliamentary elections is published, all political parties must gather for pre-election conventions to approve their lists of candidates for the elections. Political parties are obliged to hold these conventions in a live, in-person format.
The elections to the Russian parliament’s lower house, the State Duma, are scheduled for September 19, 2021.