Info that Communist Party, Liberal Democratic Party will be 'punished' over elections is provocative - source
MOSCOW. Sept 25 (Interfax) - Reports that the Communist Party of Russia and the Liberal Democratic Party will be "punished" for the results of recent gubernatorial elections in a number of regions are fake and provocative claims, a source close to the Russian presidential administration's domestic policy department told Interfax.
"We can agree with Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov's assessments that such fake claims can be spread only by provocateurs," the source said.
Candidates representing the Communist Party and the Liberal Democratic Party belong to the mainstream opposition and strictly followed all the election campaign rules, he said.
"The Liberal Democratic Party and the Communist Party systemically played by the rules in the course of this campaign and helped let off steam," the source said, adding that all of these gubernatorial candidates had passed the so-called municipal filter.
The newspaper Vedomosti reported, citing its source, that "as possible retaliatory measures, the Communist Party and the Liberal Democratic Party may be denied help in passing the municipal filter at the next elections, may not be given a chance to nominate their candidates in certain regions."