In poor rural areas many Russians yearn for a return to communism
(26 Feb 2012)
1. Various of children singing in front of crowd
2. Mid of woman in crowd dancing
3. Mid of people dancing
4. Wide of crowd, person dressed as house on chicken legs dancing in front of children
5. Mid of child shaking hands with person dressed as house
6. Mid of pancakes being cooked at a stall
7. Close of pancake being cooked
8. Close of children eating pancakes
9. Various of people competing in tug-of-war contest
10. Various of child sliding down snow and ice-covered hill
11. Mid of woman sitting at table, man pouring drink into plastic glasses
12. Close of man pouring spirit into glasses
13. Mid of woman drinking spirit and shaking her head
14. Wide of stalls and crowd
16. Mid of Yaroslavl region communist leader Alexander Vorobyov walking among stalls
17. Close of Pravda (The Truth) newspaper in Vorobyov's hands
18. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Alexander Vorobyov, First Secretary, Communist Party of the Russian Federation Yaroslavl Regional Committee:
Today the authorities are bringing destruction, in our Yaroslavl region we have had tens of factories destroyed. The rural area is actually in a sad condition. The authorities are talking about stability, but today it is a stability of poverty, a stability of dying out. That's why it's those in power who are destructive, people are dying out and factories are being destroyed under their rule. We need authorities that would help create things.
19. Wide of church domes
20. Wide of Vorobyov walking by church with labour union activist Olga Boyko
21. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Olga Boyko, labour union activist:
All I can remember is all these destroyed factories and wretched people.
22. Mid of balloons and church domes in background
23. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Nikolai Mishurov, postgraduate student, Yaroslavl State University:
I plan to vote for (Russian Communist Party and presidential candidate) Gennady Zyuganov because he's the only candidate who has a programme that is capable of taking the country out of the social crisis which it is facing now. It would mean the support of the people, the support of the middle class and the poor people, all this is in Zyuganov and the Communist Party's programme.
24. Wide of street with billboard reading (Russian) Elect Zyuganov and portrait of Zyuganov
25. Mid of Zyuganov's billboard
26. Wide of street with billboard for Russian prime minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin
27. Mid of Putin's billboard reading (Russian) Your voice is needed for victory
28. Wide of Yaroslavl historic churches
STORYLINE
With one week to go until the Russian presidential election, the city of Yaroslavl on Sunday celebrated Maslenitsa, a traditional Russian holiday marking the end of winter.
As people took part in the festivities, some mused over the upcoming elections and what it could mean for this region that gave the Kremlin the least support in the parliamentary elections last December.
Located on the river Volga some 230 kilometres (143 miles) north of Moscow, and with a population of 600-thousand, Yaroslavl boasts that it is staging Russia's most important Maslenitsa festival.
Thousands of people have flocked to the city centre, a UNESCO world heritage site, to take part in traditional activities, including eating pancakes and drinking tea, as well as beer and vodka, in the streets.
Yaroslavl is at the heart of a region that gave the fewest votes to the ruling United Russia party in December's parliamentary elections.
The Kremlin-backed party suffered massive defeats in the region, receiving only 29 percent of the vote, compared with 49 percent of the vote nationwide.
Just four years ago, United Russia received 34 percent of the vote in Yaroslavl.
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