Penza, 6 February 2016. PenzaNews. The attempt by the Youth Guard of the United Russia (YGUR) to privatize the initiative to strike down payday loans looks strange, says the statement by the press service of the Penza region CPRF committee in reply to the press release by YGUR which practically accuses the Communists of speculating on the motion to ban debt collection agencies.

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“On February 5, the local branch of the Youth Guard of the United Russia distributed a strange press release where they accuse the Penza Communists of allegedly showing support to… YGUR itself. At the same time, the Youth Guard mixes up debt collection agencies with payday loan organizations and assert that cutting down the latter ones is their initiative,” says the statement received by PenzaNews agency.

According to the Penza region CPRF committee, the assertion that the original article was a news plant does not hold against criticism.

“Then who would plant this newspiece for the Communists? What do they think in YGUR?” the authors of the statement ask.

They also point out that the Youth Guard of the United Russia “apparently do not understand the difference between payday loan organizations and debt collectors.”

“These young men should begin by making up their mind on the subject of their opposition: debt collectors, or ‘quick moneys,’ ‘easy bucks’ and the rest which have spread like mold in a damp place? In their press release, YGUR writes that ‘the CPRF begins fighting debt collectors.’ But in his video blog, Georgy Kamnev, first secretary of the CPRF regional committee, stood for banning the payday loan organizations as the source of evil, and demanded to revoke the Noble Prize given to Muhammad Yunus, the Bangladeshi banker who originally developed the concept of microfinancing. Debt collectors in this case are just incidental. Yet it seems that the authors of the press release by YGUR lack the education to distinguish between the two terms, and thus they mixed it all together,” stresses the statement by Penza Communists.

According to them, the attempt by YGUR to privatize the campaign against payday loans seems strange.

“After all, it is good when all forces – both the left and the right – unite against evil. In our opinion, such edgy reaction by the United Russia youth shows they needed a news hook rather than a solution. Apparently, YGUR decided to hijack somebody else’s initiative and gain political capital by criticizing the largest opposition party in the country. It seems the youth of the United Russia has little bother over the activities of payday loan organizations – otherwise they would not be expressing their displeasure over somebody else supporting the fight against payday loans,” the authors conclude.

They also point out that the February picket flaunted by YGUR brought no results, as numbers of payday loan organizations have grown multiple times over the past two years.

“Perhaps the United Russia youth chose a wrong place for their campaign and they should have picketed the United Russia HQ on Gladkova street? After all, back in summer 2010, the State Duma through votes by the United Russia approved the law ‘On Microfinance Activities and Microfinance Organizations’ which practically gives protection to such parlors rather than their borrowers. The deputies of the ruling party should be kicking themselves today and apologize to the citizens of the country for allowing legal work for such harpy organizations that lend money for 720% interest. That is why the fight of YGUR against debt collectors (or is it payday loan organizations?) looks like shadow boxing. United Russia practically created the issue by itself, and now begins ‘heroically’ solving it after the terrible tragedies like in Ulyanovsk and thousands of broken lives,” reads the statement by the Penza Communists.