#11 - JRL 7305
gazeta.ru
August 28, 2003
Dressing down for election chief
By Artyom Vernidoub

The campaign to clean up electioneering by Russia's top electoral official, Alexander Veshnyakov, has got off to a bad start. As he closed a five-day conference involving 27 political parties at the Manezh exhibition centre in Moscow, the mud-slinging, or rather the mayonnaise-slinging, began.

A radical activist from the National Bolshevik Party was detained after squirting a packet of salad dressing at the Electoral Commission's chief and shouting: ''Maniac Veshnyakov! Stop enacting this farce!'' Veshnyako, his suit splattered with mayonnaise, retorted by calling the young activists ''Scumbags''.

Taking part in the closing ceremony of the Elections-2003 forum held at the Manezh exhibition centre in Moscow were the Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, the LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, and secretary of the general council of United Russia among others. They were listening to a keynote speech by Chairman of the Central Election Commission Alexander Veshnaykov when the attack took place.

It was at his initiative that the party leaders had got together and signed a joint declaration pledging to behave ethically during the election campaign, to refrain from using false information to discredit opponents and insulting each other. Ironically, as Veshnyakov was speaking of the importance of honesty in the processing of results, he himself came under attack.

''For no-one to doubt the outcome of the voting, and for the voters to conceive a desire to take part in elections…'' the CEC chief was saying, when a young man holding a small plastic bag ran up to him and squirted mayonnaise over his suit jacket while his comrades began scattering leaflets and reciting: ''There will be no honest elections!'' and ''Maniac Veshnyakov, stop enacting this farce, this is no theatre.''

''Do not pay attention to that dirt,'' Mr. Veshnyakov responded phlegmatically, ''Provocation exists everywhere, and this hall is no exception.''

Some time later, when he emerged before the press – by that time he had taken off his dirty jacket -- Veshnyakov vented his anger: ''There are still scumbags in Russia, and one of them has revealed himself here, but even that mission he has failed to do properly.''

The radical youths proved to be activists of Eduard Limonov's National Bolshevik Party. Limonov's supporters tend to use similar tactics to those used by western radicals, throwing dirty objects at politicians. However, the party's activists and NBP headquarters disagreed with Veshnyakov's assertion that their comrade had failed to produce an effect.

''Our comrade worked with mayonnaise. And though he did not get any on the [official's] face, the lower part of his jacket was smeared, and when people were coming up to Veshnyakov for a hug, they were afraid to dirty themselves,'' the party activists told Gazeta.Ru.

They said the mayonnaise was in a soft 250g plastic bag. The young man who carried out the attack was 19-year-old Nikolai Medvedev, a resident of Ulyanovsk. Medvedev had never taken part in such actions before, the NBP members said. The young man was detained by security officers seconds after his mission was accomplished.

An official at the Moscow Main Police Directorate told Gazeta.Ru that police authorities had learned about the incident from journalists. ''We have just learnt from you about the attack on Veshnyakov,'' a police official said. ''He [the attacker] was supposed to be detained and transported to the nearest police station… Most likely, his action will be qualified as petty hooliganism. The maximum punishment that he may face is a 200 rouble fine.''

''Everything depends on whether Mr. Veshnyakov makes a complaint,'' our interlocutor at the NBP headquarters said. ''In theory, even terrorism charges can be involved, as happened in 2000 in Riga, when our comrades climbed up a church belfry and began shouting anti-fascist slogans. We hope he is generous. Take Gorbachev, for instance, he was generous, when we threw flowers at him (then the hooligan Nadezha Voronova was fined 50 roubles).''

''Of course, Limonov knew nothing of the action that we were planning,'' a member of the NBP's Central Committee Sergei Fomchenkov said. ''We are a party of direct action -- the guys planned and carried out everything by themselves, but we support them; such organizations as the CEC decide for the voters how and who should win the vote. Veshnyakov is a Cerberus. That is why they threw mayonnaise at him.''

It is noteworthy that the Russian Justice Ministry has rejected NBP's request for an official party status three times, and as of July 1 Limonov's movement no longer has the right to call itself a party, and hence, to stand for seats in the lower house. Not long ago the CEC chief said that under no circumstances would he allow Limonov's party to take part in the parliamentary elections.

The Khamovniki district prosecutor's office has launched criminal proceedings against the NPB member Nikolai Medvedev under Article 213 of the penal code, envisaging punishment for hooliganism.