Opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov, the coordinator of the Left Front movement, said he will not attend a meeting Russian President Dmitry Medvedev plans to hold with unregistered parties’ leaders on Monday as it is “senseless.”
“As far as I know, the political reform will not be discussed at the Kremlin meeting on April 2,” Udaltsov said. “President Medvedev will address the opposition, whose representatives will silently listen to his speech.”
“I believe the format of the meeting is wrong. I have always spoken for constructive dialogue between the authorities and the opposition, but I don’t see any sense in attending a formal event as a ‘silent Kremlin decoration,’” Udaltsov said.
A new bill awaiting Medvedev’s final approval was passed by parliament in March. It reduces the membership requirement for registering a party to 500 people from 45,000 currently. It also abolishes the requirement for parties to collect voter signatures in order to take part in elections.
Earlier Udaltsov planned to speak at the meeting and say the political reform currently underway was in many respects imitation of real activity.
Udaltsov, however, still plans to take part in a working group to develop the political reform.
An environmental activist earlier told RIA Novosti Medvedev will sign the legislation at Monday’s meeting.
The unregistered opposition People's Freedom Party (Parnas) earlier also said it will not attend the meeting. A party spokesman downplayed the importance of the meeting, saying it will lack any "substantial discussion."
Parnas was denied registration in June last year but the new bill makes it possible for it to re-apply.
