Dmitry Medvedev reportedly won't campaign in Russia's regions because of Alexey Navalny

Update: Natalya Timakova, the prime minister’s press secretary, says Vedomosti’s story is untrue. “Medvedev as the chairman of the party [United Russia] is actively participating in the campaign,” Timakova told reporters from Interfax.

Reportedly against the expectations of his own political party, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, the leader of United Russia, hasn’t joined regional campaign efforts this summer, avoiding trips to the regions where gubernatorial races will take place this September. Instead, President Putin has been visiting United Russia’s regional candidates. According to the newspaper Vedomosti, Medvedev’s diminished public role is likely tied to corruption allegations by Alexey Navalny, whose nationwide protest movement has damaged the prime minister’s political reputation.

The party’s campaigning began just last month, but Putin started making trips to Russia’s regions in the spring. Since April 18, the president has visited four of the 16 regions holding September elections, and on each trip he’s met with the local leadership. On recent visits to seven other regions that aren’t holding September elections, Putin did not meet with top local officials.

Instead of venturing out into the regions, Medvedev has preferred to invite acting governors to his official residence outside Moscow. Since March 31, he’s met with six governors now facing re-election.

A year ago, ahead of nationwide parliamentary elections, Medvedev visited 36 regions and met with 19 governors, while Putin traveled to 15 regions, meeting with the local governors just three times.

A source identified as “close to the Kremlin” told Vedomosti that plans were made this spring for both Putin and Medvedev to visit the regions holding gubernatorial elections in September. Another anonymous source supposedly “close to the presidential administration” told the newspaper that Putin’s campaign role was discussed, while Medvedev’s participation was not, stressing that there was never a special decision to keep Medvedev from leaving Moscow.

Another “near Kremlin” source told Vedomosti that the prime minister’s low visibility is due to his fallen popularity ratings, following Alexey Navalny’s corruption allegations. Navalny’s investigative film and nationwide protest movement, another source “close to the presidential administration” told Vedomosti, have made Medvedev “toxic” to governors seeking re-election this September.

Political analyst Evgeny Minchenko told the newspaper, however, that Medvedev’s damaged reputation is only part of the story. The main reason for this summer’s campaign strategy, Minchenko argued, is that Vladimir Putin wants more publicity for himself in the regions as part of his still-unannounced 2018 re-election campaign.