SPS is certain that despite all objections to the current policies by the incumbent authority, democracy and freedom are largely endangered not by this power but by those who are prepared and have a chance to take over. Judging by the current tendencies and public opinion, a drastic turn toward nationalist socialism is not ruled out, said Mr. Gozman adding that some people are very much enthusiastic about such primitive ideas. In the opinion of Mr. Gozman, there are some essential obstacles to the unification of the democratic Committee-2008 with SPS.
First, SPS "is fighting not Putin but what is negative in the country in general and in Putin's policy, in particular." Besides, the Gozman party is advocating dialogue with the current authorities while Garri Kasparov and his Committee-2008 say that such a dialogue is out of the question. SPS also looks at joint action with the Communists and nationalists as inadmissible against the background of mounting Leftist and nationalist sentiments in Russian society.
Mr. Gozman says that Russia is not to follow the example of Kiev because there are no prerequisites for this: "if one keeps encouraging protest unrest, it will result not in the Moscow of 1991 or Kiev of 2004 but the Germany of the early 1930s." Under the circumstances, a coming revolution will be anything but a velvet one, he added.
Speaking about political prospects for the Russian opposition, Mr. Gozman noted that it would hardly be able to organize a new united party in the near future. "These are the same familiar people who have long been battling each other for leadership on the democratic scene, without any proposals of specific joint action," he said.
