Nikolai Nikolayevich Bondarenko (russian: Николай Николаевич Бондаренко; born 3 June 1985) is a Russian opposition politician and blogger, who served as Member of the

Saratov Oblast Duma The Saratov Oblast Duma (russian: Саратовская областная дума, Saratovskaya oblastnaya duma) is the Regional parliaments of Russia, regional parliament of Saratov Oblast, a federal subject of Russia. A total of 45 deputies ...

from 2017 until his expulsion in 2022. A member of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

, he was a candidate at the

2021 Russian legislative election Legislative elections were held in Russia from 17 to 19 September 2021. At stake were 450 seats in the 8th convocation of the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly. Going into the elections, United Russia was the ruling party aft ...

. Bondarenko was previously a Member of the

Saratov City Duma The Saratov City Duma (russian: Саратовская городская дума, Saratovskaya gorodskaya duma) is the legislative body of Saratov Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and ...

from 2011 to 2016, and he is well known for his confrontational nature and criticism of the ruling

United Russia United Russia ( rus, Единая Россия, Yedinaya Rossiya, (j)ɪˈdʲinəjə rɐˈsʲijə) is a Conservatism in Russia, Russian conservative List of political parties in Russia, political party. As the largest party in Russia, it hold ...

party.

Early life

Nikolai Bondarenko was born in

Saratov Saratov (, ; rus, Сара́тов, a=Ru-Saratov.ogg, p=sɐˈratəf) is the largest city and administrative center of Saratov Oblast, Russia, and a major port on the Volga River upstream (north) of Volgograd. Saratov had a population of 901,36 ...

on 3 June 1985. After finishing school, he attended the

Saratov State Academy of Law Saratov State Academy of Law (Russian: ''Саратовская государственная юридическая академия'') is a Federal State Educational Institution of Higher Professional Education in the Saratov region of the Russ ...

and graduated in 2007.

Career

In 2011, Bondarenko was elected to the

through

party lists An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

, despite losing in his constituency. In 2017, he was elected to the

as a member of the

. In 2018, Bondarenko became known for his harsh criticism of the government in regards to the pension reform and supported the

protests A protest (also called a demonstration, remonstration or remonstrance) is a public expression of objection, disapproval or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of coopera ...

against the reform. In October, he was detained after attending a protest in Saratov. Bondarenko also staged an experiment trying to survive on the monthly pension of 3,500 rubles and called it "genocide". In 2020, Bondarenko was put forward as a candidate for post of representative to the

Federation Council The Federation Council (russian: Сове́т Федера́ции – ''Soviet Federatsii'', common abbreviation: Совфед – ''Sovfed''), or Senate (officially, starting from July 1, 2020) ( ru , Сенат , translit = Senat), is th ...

from the

(In Russia, half of the Senators are elected by the regional parliaments, of the subjects which they represent). On 8 February 2021, Bondarenko was detained on charges of violating protest rules. His colleagues said he attended the pro-Navalny protests on 31 January as an observer.

Olga Alimova Olga Nikolaevna Alimova (russian: Ольга Николаевна Алимова; born 10 April 1953) is a Russian politician who was a member of the State Duma for Saratov Oblast from 2011 to 2016 and from 2018 to 2021. She was re-elected to the ...

, the Saratov regional branch leader of the Communist Party, linked Bondarenko's detention with his stated plans to run for the State Duma elections later in the year, where he would compete with State Duma speaker

Vyacheslav Volodin Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin (russian: Вячеслав Викторович Володин; born 4 February 1964) is a Russian politician who currently serves as the 10th Chairman of the State Duma (since 5 October 2016). He is a former ai ...

and is considered a strong challenger. The leader of the Communist Party,

Gennady Zyuganov Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov (russian: Генна́дий Андре́евич Зюга́нов; born 26 June 1944) is a Russian politician, who has been the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and served as ...

, said he would defend him in court and fight for his release. A commission of the Saratov Oblast Duma also accused Bondarenko of corruption for receiving advertising revenues and donations through his YouTube channel. In response, he called the accusation "absurd" and politically motivated. The Saratov Oblast Duma, by a majority vote, adopted a draft resolution declaring that Bondarenko violated the law. A court also fined him 20,000 rubles, which he appealed. In 2021, Bondarenko announced that he is running for the

State Duma The State Duma (russian: Госуда́рственная ду́ма, r=Gosudárstvennaja dúma), commonly abbreviated in Russian as Gosduma ( rus, Госду́ма), is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house ...

from the Balashov constituency in the 2021 Election. However, there have been rumors that the

Central Election Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

may ban Bondarenko from running. Indeed, he was investigated for “extremist” association, though the matter was ultimately dismissed in court. Bondarenko lost the controversial election to the

candidate by a significant margin. In February 2022, Bondarenko was

impeached Impeachment is the process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements. In ...

from the

by a vote from other deputies on the grounds of improperly declaring donations to his

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

channel. He argued that the expulsion was politically motivated, and his fellow Communist deputies walked out of the session in protest. In July 2022, Bondarenko announced that he is running for his old seat (4th constituency) in the

2022 Saratov Oblast Duma election The 2022 Saratov Oblast Duma election took place on 9–11 September 2022, on common election day, coinciding with the gubernatorial election. All 40 seats in the Oblast Duma were up for reelection. Electoral system Under current election laws, ...

in September.

Electoral history

, - ! colspan=2 style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" , Candidate ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;vertical-align:top;" , Party ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , Votes ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;" , % , - , style="background-color: " , , align=left,

Andrey Vorobyev Andrey, Andrej or Andrei (in Cyrillic script: Андрей, Андреј or Андрэй) is a form of Andreas/Ἀνδρέας in Slavic languages and Romanian. People with the name include: *Andrei of Polotsk ( – 1399), Lithuanian nobleman *An ...

, align=left,

, 121,326 , 52.50% , - , style="background-color: " , , align=left, Nikolai Bondarenko , align=left,

, 67,352 , 29.14% , - , style="background-color: " , , align=left, Dmitry Arkhipov , align=left,

Communists of Russia The Communist Party "Communists of Russia" (CPCR; russian: Коммунистическая партия «Коммунисты России»; КПКР; ''Kommunisticheskaya partiya «Kommunisty Rossii»'', ''KPKR'') or simply Communists of Russi ...

, 7,861 , 3.40% , - , style="background-color: " , , align=left, Oleg Meshcheryakov , align=left, Liberal Democratic Party , 6,851 , 2.96% , - , style="background-color: " , , align=left, Sergey Gromyko , align=left, Party of Pensioners , 6,382 , 2.76% , - , style="background-color: " , , align=left, Aleksandr Fedorchenko , align=left,

A Just Russia — For Truth A Just Russia — For Truth (SRZP; russian: Справедливая Россия — За правду; СРЗП, Spravedlivaya Rossiya — Za pravdu; SRZP), formerly A Just Russia (SR), is a social conservative and social-democratic political p ...

, 6,364 , 2.75% , - , style="background-color: ", , align=left, Vladimir Morozov , align=left, New People , 4,409 , 1.91% , - , style="background-color: ", , align=left, Sergey Demin , align=left, Rodina , 2,604 , 1.13% , - , style="background-color: " , , align=left, Ilya Kozlyakov , align=left,

Yabloko The Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko (RUDP Yabloko) (russian: Росси́йская объединённая демократи́ческая па́ртия «Я́блоко», Rossíyskaya obyedinyónnaya demokratícheskaya pártiya "Y ...

, 1,404 , 0.61% , - , colspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9;", , - style="font-weight:bold" , colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" , Total , 231,098 , 100% , - , colspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9;", , - style="font-weight:bold" , colspan="4" , Source: , Результаты выборов по одномандатному избирательному округу, 2021
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bondarenko, Nikolai 1985 births 21st-century jurists 21st-century Russian politicians Living people Politicians from Saratov Communist Party of the Russian Federation members Russian atheists Russian bloggers Russian Internet celebrities Russian jurists Russian YouTubers