The elections in the Krasnoyarsk Territory, widely considered a rehearsal for the December federal polls, saw Just Russia, which is largely seen as a Kremlin-sponsored project designed to poach votes from the Communists, come third behind the Communists and the winners, the pro-Kremlin United Russia.
"Krasnoyarsk Communists have decided to go further and sue Sergei Mironov to defend the party's reputation," said Vladislav Yurchik, first secretary of the Krasnoyarsk regional Communist Party committee.
Shortly after the preliminary election results became known Monday, Mironov, also speaker of the upper house of the federal parliament, hurled his accusations:
"The second place, secured by the Communist Party of Russia during the elections to the Krasnoyarsk Territory legislature, directly results from unprincipled cooperation between the Communist leadership and criminals," he told journalists.
Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov dismissed the statements as absurd and unsubstantiated. "Mironov has said many absurdities recently, but this one borders on vulgarity," Zyuganov said.
