Moscow rally 24 December 2011 Sakharov Avenue 13 41 13

''Party of crooks and thieves'' (russian: Партия жуликов и воров – ''Partiya zhulikov i vorov'', abbr. russian: ПЖиВ – ''PZhiV'') is an expression widely circulating among opposition in Russia which is used to refer to the ruling

United Russia United Russia ( rus, Единая Россия, Yedinaya Rossiya, (j)ɪˈdʲinəjə rɐˈsʲijə) is a Russian conservative political party. As the largest party in Russia, it holds 325 (or 72.22%) of the 450 seats in the State Duma , havin ...

party, led by Dmitry Medvedev and

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin; (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who holds the office of president of Russia. Putin has served continuously as president or prime minister since 1999: as prime min ...

. It was coined by blogger and anti-corruption activist

Alexei Navalny Alexei Anatolievich Navalny ( rus, links=no, Алексей Анатольевич Навальный, , ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ nɐˈvalʲnɨj; born 4 June 1976) is a Russian opposition leader, lawyer, and anti-corruption act ...

in February 2011.

Origin

In 2013 far-right politician

Vladimir Zhirinovsky Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky, ''né'' Eidelshtein (russian: link=false, Эйдельштейн) (25 April 1946 – 6 April 2022) was a Russian right-wing populist politician and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) fr ...

, speaking to

Echo of Moscow Echo of Moscow (russian: links=no, Эхо Москвы, translit=Ekho Moskvy) was a 24/7 commercial Russian radio station based in Moscow. It broadcast in many Russian cities, some of the former Soviet republics (through partnerships with local r ...

, claimed to have used this expression in 2009. In 2010 liberal politician Boris Nemtsov, speaking to

Radio Liberty Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

, described United Russia as "a party of thieves and corrupt officials". On February 2, 2011, in an interview with Finam FM radio station, blogger and anti-corruption activist

responded to the question about United Russia: The English translation "party of crooks and thieves" first appeared in an article of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' on April 4, 2011, by Russian-born American journalist Julia Ioffe. The expression was also used by ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

'' in October and December 2011.

Usage

The slogan was widely used during the

2011 Russian legislative election Legislative elections were held in Russia on 4 December 2011. At stake were the 450 seats in the 6th State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly (the legislature). United Russia won the elections with 49.32% of the vote, taking 238 se ...

campaign by parties and individuals. Posters, banners, stickers were common during the protests in 2011 and 2012. While reporting about the two sessions, i.e.

National People's Congress The National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China (NPC; ), or simply the National People's Congress, is constitutionally the supreme state authority and the national legislature of the People's Republic of China. With 2,9 ...

and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference,

CGTN Russian CGTN Russian (formerly CCTV International Russian (russian: Центральное Телевидение Китая Международный канал на Pусском языке, ''Tsentral'noye Televideniye Kitaya Mezhdunarodnyy kanal na ...

, a Russian-language Chinese media platform used the term in its video to introduce China's efforts to contain corruption.

Public opinion

Levada Center The Levada Center is a Russian independent, nongovernmental polling and sociological research organization. It is named after its founder, the first Russian professor of sociology Yuri Levada (1930–2006). The center traces back its history to 1 ...

survey on July 19, 2011, revealed that 33% of Russians agree that United Russia is a "party of crooks and thieves", while 47% disagreed.19.07.2011. Левада-центр. О партии «Единая Россия»
/ref> Another survey by the same center in June 2012 showed an increase in respondents agreeing with the characterization. Of the total, 47% agreed and 40% disagreed. The latest survey was conducted in April 2013 by Levada Center. For the first time since 2011, it showed the majority of Russians (51%) agreeing with the phrase. At the same poll, 62% of Russian said United Russia members are about "maintaining and strengthening their own power." In February 2011, Navalny created

in his

LiveJournal LiveJournal (russian: Живой Журнал), stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, a ...

blog in which around 38,000 people participated with over 96% agreeing with the characterization of United Russia as "party of crooks and thieves".

Reaction from United Russia

On October 11, 2011, the Lyublinsky District Court rejected the lawsuit of United Russia member Vladimir Svirid against Navalny. On November 24, 2011, during a debate on

Russia-1 Russia-1 (russian: Россия-1) is a state-owned Russian television channel, first aired on 14 February 1956 as Programme Two in the Soviet Union. It was relaunched as RTR on 13 May 1991, and is known today as Russia-1. It is the flagship ch ...

, State Duma Member Alexander Khinshtein (a member of United Russia) stated:

References

External links