Observers fear a return to bureaucratic life as old-style party gains wide support
For the second time in his life, Mikhail Gerasimov is carrying a party card.
A successful small businessman in the Moscow suburb of Perovo, Mr Gerasimov is the newest local member of United Russia, the Kremlin-backed Goliath that is fast becoming Russia's largest and most influential political club.
'I decided to join up because of the stabilisation of political life in Russia and because of the growing public confidence towards the party of power and its leaders,' says the soft-spoken, greying owner of a company that removes abandoned cars for the city authorities.
Nearly two decades ago, Mr Gerasimov, then a mid-level manager in a defence factory, joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) for equally vague-sounding reasons. 'I wanted to do something in the public sphere,' he says.
But his experience in that ruling party machine proved a bitter disappointment because the leadership never listened to the rank and file. 'I hope United Russia will not repeat the experience of the CPSU, to drift so far from the people,' Mr Gerasimov says.