United Russia and A Just Russia buried the hatchet Monday after an unusually bitter dispute gripped the country's main pro-Kremlin parties all of last week.
But in a sign that United Russia and its politics were still open for discussion ahead of regional elections next month, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin weighed in with criticism for ruling party on prime time television.
Kudrin told Channel One host Vladimir Pozner on Monday evening that he was not planning to join United Russia because he wasn't "entirely pleased with the party's direction and its use of political resources … at other parties' expense."
The political heavyweight and close ally of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin also took issue with the party's attempt to portray itself as center-right. United Russia leaders adopted a platform of Russian Conservatism at their party congress in November.
"On the whole, United Russia is still a left-center party, not a right-center party, as was planned when it was created," said Kudrin, who is also a deputy prime minister. "And only, I repeat, thanks to certain work by the government, and by Putin personally, have we been able to maintain that balance. That doesn't entirely match my preferences."
Speaking on the same program exactly a week ago, Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov said he disagreed with Putin, who is United Russia's chairman, over the 2010 budget and anti-crisis measures. The comments prompted a stream of vitriol from top United Russia officials defending Putin and his platform.
On Monday, Mironov signed a joint declaration with Boris Gryzlov, who is United Russia's No. 2 leader, in which both parties promised to "act in a coalition to solve the country's most pressing problems," according to excerpts of the comments posted on both parties' web sites.
Neither party had released the full text of the agreement Monday evening.
Leaders of the State Duma's other opposition parties said the declaration unmasked A Just Russia as a fundamentally government-friendly party, while analysts said the conflict was concocted in the Kremlin from beginning to end.
Under the deal, both parties will approve laws about foreign policy and the political system as a whole, while A Just Russia will continue its independent line on social and economic issues.
"We believe that certain values are indispensable for all Russians — strengthening the state, striving to make Russia a leading world power and, of course, keeping the rights and freedom of its citizens," the declaration said, according to the excerpts.
"A Just Russia stands in opposition to United Russia [and] retains the right to defend its positions on social and economic policy," the document says. The debate between them will continue, "civilized and with the participation of the media."
United Russia also backed down from its earlier calls for Mironov to step down as speaker of the Federation Council, but only on the condition that their cooperation on central policy issues works.
Oleg Shein, a lawmaker for A Just Russia who is deputy chairman of the Duma's Social Policy Committee, said the statement was a victory for his party because United Russia now accepted Mironov's right to have the positions he stated Feb. 1 on Pozner's talk show.
"Mironov said then that he supports Putin's foreign policy course. He said he only disagreed with his budget and some of its anti-crisis measures. Now Gryzlov confirmed that," Shein told The Moscow Times.
But Dmitry Orlov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst and adviser to United Russia, called the agreement a major defeat for Mironov. "He has renounced his negative criticism of the prime minister. … By aligning with United Russia on fundamental issues he has become a junior partner in the coalition that supports the president and prime minister," he said in comments on United Russia's web site. "This loss of face weakens A Just Russia's electoral chances and support for its leader Mironov."
Neither Putin nor President Dmitry Medvedev has joined United Russia, nor have they weighed in on the past week's political wrangling.
In a highly unusual political outpouring, United Russia officials fired nasty comments at Mironov over the past week, branding him as a traitor because he dared to criticize Putin.
"As far as my personal relationship with Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, you can judge for yourself. Vladimir Vladimirovich and I have been friends for 15 years now," he said after the signing.
Analysts have speculated that the conflict was staged as a distraction from real problems ahead of March 14 regional elections, most notably massive anti-government protests in Kaliningrad on Jan. 30.
Both Communists and the Liberal Democrats, the Duma's other opposition parties, decried the declaration as evidence of A Just Russia's pro-Kremlin nature.
"I congratulate Boris Vyacheslavovich [Gryzlov] and Sergei Mikhailovich [Mironov] for firmly and unambiguously declaring what is their common aim. This is a nice present for the real opposition," said Ivan Melnikov, the Communist Party deputy chairman, Interfax reported.
The Communists also announced that a coalition could also be forged among opposition parties.
"We are prepared to work together on an equal basis with those opposition forces interested in developing social justice," party leader Gennady Zyuganov said in a statement carried by Interfax.
Sergei Mitrokhin, leader of the liberal Yabloko party, said that while no coalition could be formed before the March 14 regional elections, he did not principally rule out cooperation with the Communists. "We can discuss certain problems and joint actions," he said, Interfax reported.
Liberal Democrat leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky said the deal showed that A Just Russia had never been in opposition. The party's purpose is to "reduce the heat of voters' negative emotions toward United Russia," he said in a statement on his party's web site. He did not mention any interest in Zyuganov's proposal.
Stanislav Belkovsky, an independent political analyst and former Kremlin insider, said that while the declaration was more a victory for A Just Russia, the whole affair showed just how much the country's political system is controlled by the authorities.
"Such scandals allow the Kremlin to control the political situation," he said, adding that to his knowledge, the Mironov affair was thought up by Vladislav Surkov, the Kremlin's first deputy chief of staff, who oversees domestic politics.
United Russia is the country's dominant political force, and its 315 State Duma deputies commanding a 70 percent majority. The party has similar strength in regional legislatures, giving it massive leverage over the Federation Council, the country's upper house of parliament.
A Just Russia, created 2006 as leftist Kremlin-project, has a mere 38 Duma deputies with just over 8 percent of the seats.
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