A good piece by Kolesnikov in *Kommersant*:
How the victorious election manifesto was written yesterday at a Sochi sanatorium It perfectly captures the essence of what this Putin front really is. Andrei Isayev also proposed holding mass demonstrations on all fronts in Russian cities as early as June 11. It even became a little worrying: would they really manage to spend the budget allocated for this event in such a short time? But judging by Andrei Isayev’s confident look, it became clear: of course they would! ... The front members had apparently already spoken with everyone, and only Oleg Morozov could not stop talking to the photographers. He was explaining to them that there was simply no way to do without a car with a flashing blue light (and indeed, every fighter needs a good flashing light these days; sometimes it is his only weapon.— A.K.). “A flashing light is essential!” Oleg Morozov repeated. “A necessary thing! They’ve piled so much on me! At 9 a.m. I have one report in one place, at 11 a.m. the Duma Council, at 12 I have to be at the White House (the Russian government building)... And everywhere I’m the speaker! And from the Duma to the White House using the center divider lane—it’s only 11 minutes!.. Otherwise it’s 35–40! And that’s under favorable conditions... The frontline vanguard were driven around in a vehicle resembling an ambulance bus.” All in all, the Kremlin’s new political technology is even a bit disappointing. It was of course clear that the only people they would “unite” around themselves would be all sorts of crooks. But one might at least have hoped to see some new, energetic, interesting crooks. Instead, they found none, and are uniting only with themselves—with the same old, dreary crooks. Shokhin — a United Russia member Shmakov, with his fake trade unions — signed an agreement with United Russia ages ago Klintsevich — a United Russia member and so on. The “people’s front” uniting United Russia and the Young Guard of United Russia is a joke in itself. They might as well unite with Gryzlov too. Everything that needs to be said about the creation of the All-Russia People’s Front (ONF) led by United Russia is summed up in a phrase someone posted on Twitter: A Front of Swindlers and Rogues has been formed around the Party of Crooks and Thieves. Na the elections, they’ll still be running under the name “United Russia.” All our cheerful creative work on the “Party of Crooks and Thieves” theme will still be in high demand, and we need to come up with more. By the way, the latest video has already been watched by almost 300,000 people in six days. Keep spreading it, and those who can, make new ones.