Can the Communists help democratize Russia?

Here is an article that I wrote with a colleague in Russia (who I am not identifying for his safety) that will appear later this year. It addresses a question of what role the Communists could play in changing the nature of the regime, using the example of how PAN helped democratize the electoral authoritarian regime in Mexico

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/359051489_A_Rumbling_from_Below_Opposition_Party_Rebranding_Regional_Elections_and_Transforming_the_Regime_in_Russia