Romain COLAS -
Before Vyacheslav Makarov announced in January he was leaving gaming, few could have expected the man who helped create the mega-hit “World of Tanks” wanted a career in Russian politics.
Yet, on the sidelines of a digital technologies conference in Moscow on Thursday, the 40-year-old online gaming legend launched his latest creation: the Direct Democracy party.
“The biggest problem (with politics) is the mechanism of how power is built,” he said at the launch, saying he wanted to create a system where party members can use technology to have a direct say in politics. “From our point of view, the system is simply technologically outdated,” he said.
And the new party — which Makarov is financing himself — will be “neither for, nor against” President Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin, he said. The move has raised eyebrows among political pundits who see Makarov’s announcement as part of a larger game orchestrated by the Kremlin to dilute the opposition and fend off rivals.
Ahead of regional elections in September and legislative elections due next year, a flurry of parties have rushed onto Russia’s political scene.
“For the Truth” was founded in early February by author and nationalist Zakhar Prilepin, 44, who reportedly fought in 2017 alongside pro-Russian separatist fighters in eastern Ukraine.
He says his party has the support of US actor and Kremlin fan Steven Seagal, but vehemently denies setting it up at the request of the authorities.
The eco-friendly Green Alternative party, “A Dignified Life” — created by former nationalist deputy Roman Khudyakov to win youth votes — and the pro-business New People party are among those to emerge since January alone.
‘ILLUSION OF COMPETITION’
The justice ministry registered 39 new parties in 2019, almost half of them in the last four months of the year. The fact that anti-corruption activist and senior opposition figure Alexei Navalny is still barred from registering his party has fuelled speculation of a Kremlin ploy.
Navalny’s allies have tried in vain to register a political party for seven years and his Anti-Corruption Fund is under investigation for money laundering — charges Navalny’s supporters say are politically motivated.
Analysts say it is unlikely that any of these fresh parties will fill the void left by Navalny, who wants to overhaul Russia’s political landscape and regularly calls for street protests against Putin’s rule.
— AFP
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