Experts told Gazeta that the politician was thereby intentionally escalating his conflict with the authorities.
According to Alexei Makarkin, the deputy director general of the Political Technologies Center, Kasyanov does not need the confrontation to protect himself with political statements from a criminal investigation into his alleged illegal privatization of state-owned dachas. "The Kremlin and prosecutors cannot be scared with political rhetoric, quite the opposite," he said. "[So] punitive moves against him could be instigated."
Makarkin said the ex-premier was trying to achieve some electoral goals by taking the conflict up a notch. "He is appealing to the 1990s elite, to those who were driven out of the political process and took (ex-Yukos oil major founder Mikhail( Khodorkovsky's tragedy to heart," he said. Kasyanov wants to show this elite, which is dissatisfied with the present authorities, that he is "a serious player, a real presidential candidate, and that the criminal investigation will not cool his political ambitions."
Opposition parties, however, have not welcomed the former prime minister so far. Yabloko, a liberal party, apparently does not believe he can top its election list. "The number one on the party list should be at least a member of our party," Yabloko's deputy chairman Sergei Mitrokhin said referring to the system whereby members of parliament are elected using lists rather than individual candidacies. "If Kasyanov joins the party and wants to top the list, we will, of course, consider his candidacy, but competition for the place is tough."
The Union of Right Forces (SPS) was perplexed at how Kasyanov's abilities could be used at an election to the Moscow legislature, the City Duma. "His statement does not explain what he wants," said Boris Nadezhdin, a member of the party's federal political council. He posed the rhetorical question of whether Kasyanov wanted to train as a candidate for the capital's parliament or top a party's election list. "This is not serious and could cost him political authority," Nadezhdin said.
