Nationalist Considering Kaliningrad Mayor Bid

Prominent Russian ultranationalist Dmitry Demushkin has not ruled out running for mayor of the Kaliningrad region, he told RIA Novosti on August 13.

“I have not decided yet,” he said. “The offer has been on the table for more than a week.” The election will be held on October 14.

Nationalists in the Russian exclave, located between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea, have asked Demushkin to lead their drive for special rights for the region, including elevating its status from a region to a republic. But their movement, which also includes so-called “regionalists,” has no legal or organizational status yet, according to spokesman Dmitry Karpovich.

Demushkin, the controversial leader of both the outlawed Slavic Union and the civic organization “Russians,” is a key organizer of the annual Russian March in Moscow, and is known for his extreme nationalist views and espousal of national socialism.

He also recently initiated a campaign to remove Vladimir Lenin’s body from its mausoleum on Red Square.

 

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