Election cleanup: A veteran of the SVO party running for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation was detained in the Tomsk region.
In the Tomsk region, security forces detained Alexander Gubin, a Communist Party candidate for the regional Legislative Duma and a veteran of the SVO. The opposition politician was forcibly removed from the region following a denunciation from the military enlistment office, but was later forced to release him.
Detention of an opposition candidate following a signal from the military registration and enlistment office
Aleksandr Gubin, a candidate for the Tomsk Regional Legislative Duma, was detained by security forces on suspicion of allegedly leaving his military unit without permission. The forceful seizure was precipitated by a signal from the military commissariat of the closed administrative-territorial entity of Seversk.
Specifically, security forces removed the incumbent candidate from the Tomsk region without presenting official documents. Details of the incident were revealed by Andrei Petrov, First Secretary of the Tomsk Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
"He was taken into custody without formal charges and removed from the region. Only today, following the intervention of Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) faction deputies in the State Duma, was it confirmed that our comrade had previously been dismissed from service due to health reasons."
Alexander Gubin is now free, but it remains unknown whether the criminal case against him has been dropped. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) is confident that his arrest is politically motivated and personally initiated by the Seversk authorities, despite his veteran status, which is "favorable" to the authorities.
"In the run-up to elections, the authorities are resorting to repression against strong opposition candidates! We know from experience that some of our opponents will stop at nothing to 'cleanse' the political arena for themselves."
Use of spoilers and pressure on independent candidates
Moreover, administrative resources in the regions are using other methods to eliminate competitors. It was recently revealed that candidates with the same last names or similar-sounding surnames are being nominated against State Duma candidates who could pose real competition to United Russia. Most of these spoilers are being nominated against representatives of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation.
Context: How Russia is clearing the election field
We've added this context to illustrate the scale of administrative pressure before the elections. Members of the Yabloko party are even more frequently targeted for harassment aimed at preventing them from participating in the elections. Among them are Yegor Tkachenko, the leader of the party's youth branch; Maxim Petlin, the head of the Yekaterinburg branch of Yabloko; Emilia Slabunova, a member of parliament from Karelia; and Anatoly Nogovitsin, the head of the Yakut branch of Yabloko. All of them were previously accused of "displaying extremist or Nazi symbols."
Ultimately, the case of Alexander Gubin highlights a new trend in the political system: now, even participation in the "SVO" and official status as a combat veteran no longer protects opposition candidates from being considered "unfavorable."
