A popular Russian actor and former priest, Ivan Okhlobystin, was recently appointed to the Supreme Council of the Right Cause – a right-wing party founded by the grandmaster of an all-Russian Freemason lodge.

      Andrey Dunayev, head of Right Cause, announced the partnership with Okhlobystin on Twitter. He said Okhlobystin would play the role of the party’s “additional generator of ideology”. Dunayev also plans to invite other Russian celebrities to the party soon.

      Okhlobystin will also be involved in dealing with the party’s electoral technologies and communication with voters.

      Media expected Olkhlobystin, a popular actor, director and ex-Orthodox priest, to head the Right Cause last year, when he announced his presidential bid. The actor, however, created his own political party in spring 2012, which eventually failed to obtain state registration.

      The Right Cause was founded in late 2008 and later approved billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov as its leader before 2011’s parliamentary elections. However, some members of the party ousted Prokhorov for attracting controversial figures to the party and demanded him to leave. The Right Cause failed to win a single seat in the parliamentary election.