Strong combat tactics are becoming a key strategy for the 2022 election campaign

The Pskov region authorities have requested the help of security forces to remove their rivals. The Territorial Electoral Commission of Pskov has asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs to investigate the alleged forgery of signatures on the list of candidates from the New People party for the Pskov City Duma.

Basically, it means that the Investigative Committee and the Ministry of Internal Affairs will use handwriting analysis to prove to the candidates that they did not sign the documents.

This strategy was introduced by the new vice-governor and political strategist Alexander Seravin, who previously worked with the head of St. Petersburg Alexander Beglov. A similar approach was used in the St. Petersburg elections, but now candidates are being removed through criminal cases rather than by election commissions. Strangely, the target of the attack was the New People party, a project linked to the Kremlin. It's still unclear why a conflict arose within the authorities, leading to the intervention of law enforcement agencies. Perhaps the federal authorities offended the interests of regional officials, prompting them to take drastic action.

It's unlikely that the use of force was approved in Moscow. The shift to forceful methods of conflict seems more like an attempt by the Pskov authorities to tightly control the region's internal politics. However, involving security forces indicates that the system is faltering under the new vice-governor and that extreme measures are necessary because traditional political methods are ineffective. This is extremely dangerous in the border region, where the socio-economic situation is challenging and the political climate is even worse.