FROM RUSSIAN SOCIAL MEDIA:
(Not my words)

Rodina has rid itself of Matveyev. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) in the State Duma is left without its strangest "Solzhenitsyn-like deputy."

A court in Samara has disqualified State Duma deputy Mikhail Matveyev for stealing photos of the parliamentarian and the fonts of his campaign texts from authors. Matveyev supported the "Bolotnaya" protests, initially opposed the SVO, and gathered around himself a whole group of online fighters against illegal immigration. The main result of Matveyev's five years as a deputy was the nickname "Zatullo," which he gave to United Russia member Konstantin Zatulin, who criticized his anti-immigrant initiatives. Matveyev himself ended his term not only without any bills passed by the Duma. Even the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) has essentially abandoned him, and now the Samara resident will only have his cat to help him remain active.

It took a judge named Rodina of the Samara Regional Court three days to disqualify Matveyev from the elections. He desperately resisted claims that he stole fonts from the creators of his campaign materials: he proposed subpoenaing representatives of Google and Microsoft, appealed to Vladimir Putin and even God for help, and insisted the lawsuit was false. He claimed that Anna Sarantseva, a representative of the Pensioners' Party who filed the lawsuit, was working for his main rival in the district, United Russia member Alexander Zhivaikin.

Matveyev directly linked Zhivaikin to criminal activity in the 1990s, claiming that Zhivaikin headed a wrestling federation. And what those "athletes" were up to back then was no secret. None of this helped – Tatyana Rodina removed him from the elections on August 14. In response, Matveyev is already preparing protests in Moscow for the end of August. But he shouldn't expect more than a couple dozen people there – that's roughly the number of people who showed up to support him at the trial in Samara.

Navalny's pacifist

Mikhail Matveyev is perhaps the strangest State Duma deputy from the Communist Party. In 2021, he won the election against United Russia member, Colonel and Hero of Russia Igor Stankevich, then an incumbent. Many rejoiced: apparently, it turned out it was possible to defeat United Russia even in a single-mandate constituency. Their hopes only grew after Matveyev entered the State Duma plenary session hall. He broadcast from his phone and entertained subscribers to his Telegram channel with caustic comments about United Russia. But the excitement was short-lived.

Matveyev makes no secret of his fondness for Solzhenitsyn, the enemy of the communists.