You're reading: Communist Party skeptical about assassination plot against Putin

MOSCOW - A new article published by presidential candidate Vladimir Putin on Monday, yet another in a series of his campaign articles, combined with reports that an assassination plot against him has been thwarted are aimed at raising Putin's rating.

"The week has traditionally begun with yet another opus by our president. This time it’s an opus on foreign policy. But we don’t see anything in it except intricate phrases and hints at certain external forces which are actively hindering us. Once again, the blame for all our sins has been laid on the West," Valery Rashkin, State Duma deputy and Secretary of the Communist Party (KPRF) Central Committee, has told reporters.

"The enemies have been outlined – mainly the United States and NATO. The aims have been on the whole been formulated, although in a pretty sophisticated and abstract way – they are an ‘active and creative course for strengthening universal security’ and restoring Russia’s economic positions in the world," Rashkin said.

Commenting on reports, which came less than a week before the vote, that an assassination plot against Putin had been thwarted, he said that it was hardly a chance coincidence.

"I recall Putin’s first presidential election in 2000, when, shortly before the vote, apartment blocks had blown up in the capital, and his election campaign was built on the fact that only he was capable of preventing similar attacks in the future. But he failed. There were lots of terrorist acts afterwards," he said.

"As for assassination plot, it should have been reported earlier, when the secret services learnt about it. Instead, it was reported right before the vote," Rashkin said.