Russia of the Future ( rus, Россия Будущего, Rossiya Budushchego), originally known as the People's Alliance (russian: link=no, Наро́дный Алья́нс; ''Narodnyy Al'yans'') and formerly called the Progress Party (russian: link=no, Па́ртия Прогрéсса, translit = Partiya Progressa), is an unregistered
opposition political party in
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
founded on 15 December 2012 by
Leonid Volkov and later refounded on 19 May 2018 by
Alexei Navalny
Alexei Anatolievich Navalny ( rus, links=no, Алексей Анатольевич Навальный, , ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ nɐˈvalʲnɨj; born 4 June 1976) is a Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, Russian opposition ...
, who is also the founder of the non-profit organisation
Anti-Corruption Foundation
The Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF or FBK; russian: Фонд борьбы с коррупцией (ФБК), Fond borby s korruptsiyey (FBK), Foundation for combating corruption) is a non-profit organization established in 2011 by Russian opposit ...
.
Russia of the Future opposes Russian President
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 ...
and the ruling party
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 ...
. The party's platform stood for the
decentralization of power
Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group.
Conce ...
in Russia, cutting the number of government officials,
lustration
Lustration is the purge of government officials in Central and Eastern Europe. Various forms of lustration were employed in post-communist Europe.
Etymology
Lustration in general is the process of making something clear or pure, usually by m ...
for those responsible for
political repressions, the reduction of the president's powers, possibly switching to a
parliamentary republic
A parliamentary republic is a republic that operates under a parliamentary system of government where the executive branch (the government) derives its legitimacy from and is accountable to the legislature (the parliament). There are a number ...
under the
rule of law
The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannica ...
, and ensuring the
independence of the judiciary Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary should be independent from the other branches of government. That is, courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other branches of government or from private or partisan inte ...
. It also stipulated "drastically reducing" government interference in the economy, ending
censorship
Censorship is the suppression of speech, public communication, or other information. This may be done on the basis that such material is considered objectionable, harmful, sensitive, or "inconvenient". Censorship can be conducted by governments ...
, prohibiting the government from owning media outlets and abolishing conscription. The foreign policy plank called for introducing visas with
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
, stopping support for so-called ''
rogue states
"Rogue state" (or sometimes "outlaw state") is a term applied by some international theorists to states that they consider threatening to the world's peace. These states meet certain criteria, such as being ruled by Authoritarianism, authorita ...
'' and partnering up with
Western countries
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania. .
According to Navalny's ally
Lyubov Sobol
Lyubov Eduardovna Sobol (russian: link=no, Любо́вь Эдуа́рдовна Со́боль, née Fedenyova, ; born 13 September 1987) is a Russian opposition politician, lawyer and a member of the Russian Opposition Coordination Council (2 ...
, the goals of the party include "real changes, real reforms", including increased property protections, a fair criminal-justice system and battling corruption, "so that money from the budget does not flow into offshores and is not spent on yachts and palaces". The founding session of the party was attended by 124 delegates from 60 of Russia's regions. The party has a seven-member central committee instead of a chairman.
[
]
Russia's
Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry.
Lists of current ministries of justice
Named "Ministry"
* Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia)
* Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan)
* Ministry of Just ...
has repeatedly declined registration of the party on the grounds that another party of the same name already existed or due to alleged paperwork errors.
History
People's Alliance
![Народный альянс лого](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c3/%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%8F%D0%BD%D1%81_%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE.png)
The People's Alliance party was founded on 15 December 2012 at the party's founding congress. Initially, Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny declined to join the political party which was formed mostly by his followers. During the founding congress of 15 December 2012, Navalny said: "People's Alliance is my party, but I don't think that right now People's Alliance needs another member who spends his time torn between the
Investigative Committee and some court hearing involving
Rosneft
PJSC Rosneft Oil Company ( stylized as ROSNEFT) is a Russian Vertical integration, integrated energy company headquartered in Moscow. Rosneft specializes in the exploration, Extraction of petroleum, extraction, production, refining, Petroleum t ...
. Yet it is my party; it represents my interests". On 30 April 2013, the
Ministry of Justice of Russia
The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation (russian: Министе́рство юсти́ции Росси́йской Федера́ции, Миню́ст Росси́и) is a ministry of the Government of Russia responsible for the lega ...
suspended the registration of the party and then denied its registration on 5 June 2013.
![Навальный 16](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/%D0%9D%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B9_16.jpg)
After participating in the
2013 Moscow mayoral election
The 2013 Moscow mayoral election was held on September 8, 2013, as part of the regional elections, at the same time as the elections in Moscow Oblast Gubernatorial Election, 2013, Moscow Oblast and other Oblasts were held.
Elections were held aft ...
, where Navalny received 27.24% of the vote, or the second highest number, with
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 ...
's ruling party candidate
Sergey Sobyanin
Sergey Semyonovich Sobyanin (russian: link=no, Сергей Семёнович Собянин; born 21 June 1958) is a Russian politician, serving as the 3rd Mayor of Moscow since 21 October 2010.
Sobyanin previously served as the Governor of ...
of
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 ...
receiving 51.37% of the vote, Navalny said that he was ready to lead the People's Alliance. During his visit to the radio station
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 ra ...
on 15 September 2013, Navalny said: "I shall join it, no doubt about that. If I am elected, I shall lead the People's Alliance. I believe that this party is the closest to me. Yet I stayed out of it for the simple reason I was certain that otherwise it would be denied registration for sure". He also expressed his desire to run for Moscow City Duma elections in 2014 together with the People's Alliance party.
On 17 November 2013, the second founding congress of the party was held in Moscow with 111 delegates from 48 regions participating. The 108 delegates from regional branches gave Navalny 88 of the votes and he was elected as the party's chairman. During his address to the delegates, Navalny said that the People's Alliance party will again file a request for registration with the Justice Ministry. At the party's congress on 17 November 2013, Navalny said: "I hope the party will be registered this time. If it is not, we will get a fresh confirmation of the authorities' empty rhetoric about it being tolerant to the opposition taking part in the elections". Later, it was revealed that economic section of party's platform was created by
Sergei Guriev
Sergey Maratovich Guriyev (russian: Серге́й Мара́тович Гури́ев, os, Гуриаты Мараты фырт Сергей / Gwyriaty Maraty fyrt Sergej) is a Russian economist, who is Provost and a professor of economics at t ...
, former Rector at the
New Economic School.
On 20 January 2014, the Justice Ministry denied registration to the People's Alliance political party, citing the existence of another organization with the same name.
Party of Progress
![Progress Party logo](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/67/Progress_Party_logo.svg)
On 8 February 2014, the party convention decided to rename the People's Alliance party to the Progress Party.
On 25 February 2014, the Progress Party passed the first stage of registration at the Ministry of Justice. For the party to be fit for the election in autumn, the registration process should be completed by mid-June. Before that the Progress Party was required to register at least 43 regional branches, and after that to file a registration application at the ministry again. On 8 April 2014, the Justice Ministry rejected the applications to register the branches of the Progress Party due to the "mistake in constituent documents".
On 28 January 2015, Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky district court declined the party's protest against the refusal of the Justice Ministry to enter it in the register of parties entitled to take part in elections. Party's lawyer Dmitry Krainev's stated: "From 75 registered parties we have become the only one to be pushed aside from the elections".
On 1 February 2015, the Progress Party held a convention that was attended by 62 delegates from 50 regional branches. Despite the fact that Progress Party was not included in the federal list of political forces allowed to run in elections, it decided to prepare for the 2016 elections to the State Duma and regional legislatures.
At the party's congress on 1 February 2015, Navalny stated: "We will continue working for participation in elections. The probability that we won't be allowed to any elections is very high. But work to prepare candidates should be conducted already now in case
snap election
A snap election is an election that is called earlier than the one that has been scheduled.
Generally, a snap election in a parliamentary system (the dissolution of parliament) is called to capitalize on an unusual electoral opportunity or to ...
s are held". On 28 April 2015, the party was deprived of registration and thereby became an association. As reported by Navalny's live channel on YouTube, the activists will try again with the operative name of Working Title ( rus, Рабочее название, Rabocheye nazvaniye).
On 11 January 2018, Navalny said that the leadership of the association had been trying to register as a party since 2012 and held six congresses to do this. A meeting of the party's organizing committee was scheduled for 17 January 2018, and a founding congress was scheduled for 3 March.
Working Title
On 22 February 2018, the former deputy coordinator of the Moscow headquarters of the presidential campaign of Alexei Navalny, Vitaly Serukanov, stated on his
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
page that documents had been submitted to the
Ministry of Justice A Ministry of Justice is a common type of government department that serves as a justice ministry.
Lists of current ministries of justice
Named "Ministry"
* Ministry of Justice (Abkhazia)
* Ministry of Justice (Afghanistan)
* Ministry of Just ...
to rename the party Civic Position to Party of Progress. Navalny said that the political strategist Andrei Bogdanov was trying to steal the name of the party from him, as was the case in 2013 with the name “People's Alliance”. On 19 March 2018, the Ministry of Justice registered the renaming of Bogdanov's Civic Position to the Party of Progress.
On 3 March 2018, the founding congress of Navalny's party was supposed to take place under a different name, but on 2 March, an hour after Navalny notified the Ministry of Justice of the time and place of the congress, the owner of the premises announced the termination of the contract due to the position of the building's owner. She also said that, in addition to the contract, there are "forces" that are "beyond the control of even the general director", while mentioning that the owner is associated with the government. As a result, the party congress did not take place.
On 29 March, a notification was sent to the Ministry of Justice on the formation of an organizing committee in order to prepare, convene and conduct the founding congress of the Working Title party. Navalny said that first the party will be registered under this name, and later it will be renamed.
Russia of the Future
On 19 May 2018, the founding congress of the Russia of the Future party was held, at which delegates also voted for the adoption of a new charter. Ivan Zhdanov was elected head of the party (secretary of the Central Council of the party). The Council also included
Ruslan Shaveddinov
Ruslan Shaveddinov (, born 22 July 1995) is a Russian political activist, investigative journalist, and YouTube-blogger. He is best known as a project manager of Alexey Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) and press secretary of Navalny' ...
,
Roman Rubanov,
Georgy Alburov
Georgy Alburov (, born October 9, 1989, Ufa, USSR) is a Russian political and social activist, journalist, and blogger. Up to 2021, together with Maria Pevchikh, he was a head of the investigation department at the Anti-Corruption Foundation f ...
,
Lyubov Sobol
Lyubov Eduardovna Sobol (russian: link=no, Любо́вь Эдуа́рдовна Со́боль, née Fedenyova, ; born 13 September 1987) is a Russian opposition politician, lawyer and a member of the Russian Opposition Coordination Council (2 ...
, and others.
[ On 18 July, Navalny said that the Ministry of Justice had suspended registration of the party's creation on 10 July 2018 until 10 October 2018, having identified eight violations in the charter.
On 6 August 2018, Navalny's supporters again submitted documents to the Ministry of Justice to resume the registration of Russia of the Future, announcing the holding of a congress and 55 regional meetings. On 27 August 2018, the party was denied registration.
On 20 February 2019, ]Novaya Gazeta
''Novaya Gazeta'' ( rus, Новая газета, t=New Gazette, p=ˈnovəjə ɡɐˈzʲetə) is an independent Russian newspaper known for its critical and investigative coverage of Russian political and social affairs. It is published in Mo ...
published information that the organizing committee would again hold a constituent congress on 28 March. For the ninth time, the founding congress, during which a new Central Council of the party and a chairman was also elected, was held on 28 March 2019 in the town of Tarusa
Tarusa (russian: Тару́са), also known as Tarussa (), is a town and the administrative center of Tarussky District in Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the left bank of the Oka River, northeast of Kaluga, the administrative center of the ...
in the Kaluga Oblast
Kaluga Oblast (russian: Калу́жская о́бласть, translit=Kaluzhskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the city of Kaluga. The 2021 Russian Census found a population of 1,069,904.
G ...
. The party was again headed by Navalny. On 16 May, Anti-Corruption Foundation lawyers for the ninth time submitted documents on registration of the party to the Ministry of Justice, having created 56 regional branches. On 27 May 2019, the Ministry of Justice denied registration to the party for the ninth time; this time because a party called Russia of the Future already existed. Despite this, it was not possible to find a party with this name in the database of the Ministry of Justice. Prior to this, the Ministry of Justice had twice registered organizations with the same names as Navalny's parties. On 21 September 2020, the spoiler party was liquidated by the Supreme Court
A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
. Anti-Corruption Foundation director Ivan Zhdanov said that the case of refusal to register the party had been communicated to the ECHR, and a new submission of documents to register the party is not yet planned. As of January 2021 the party has not been registered.
In April 2021, the Ministry of Justice registered a party with the same name as Navalny's party, which has happened several times before, meaning the party will likely have to change its name again.
On 26 April 2021, Navalny's political network, including the Anti-Corruption Foundation
The Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF or FBK; russian: Фонд борьбы с коррупцией (ФБК), Fond borby s korruptsiyey (FBK), Foundation for combating corruption) is a non-profit organization established in 2011 by Russian opposit ...
, were ordered to suspend their activities by the Moscow prosecutor office as it sought to have them designated as "extremist organizations". On 29 April, Navalny's team announced that the political network would be dissolved, in advance of a court ruling in May expected to designate it as extremist. According to Leonid Volkov, the headquarters would be transformed into independent political organizations "which will deal with investigations and elections, public campaigns and rallies". The next day, the financial monitoring agency, Rosfinmonitoring
The Federal Financial Monitoring Service of the Russian Federation (russian: Федеральная служба по финансовому мониторингу; Росфинмониторинг) (known as Rosfinmonitoring) is a Federal Servic ...
, added Navalny Headquarters to the list of "terrorist and extremist" organizations.
Ideology
The party adheres to liberalism
Liberalism is a political and moral philosophy based on the rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostility to autocracy, cultural distaste for c ...
simultaneously with certain ideas of the welfare state
A welfare state is a form of government in which the state (or a well-established network of social institutions) protects and promotes the economic and social well-being of its citizens, based upon the principles of equal opportunity, equitabl ...
. The party points out that Russia is a part of European civilization, in which freedom, self-respect and human responsibility play an important role, and the need for state participation in various social relations, including economy, culture or family, is gradually decreasing. Therefore, in the future and as it develops, according to the party, the Russian state will have to assume the role of an arbitrator who refuses to actively interfere in public relations, but makes sure that no one violates the established rules.
As the embodiment of the idea of a social state, the party considers the task of overcoming too much economic inequality
There are wide varieties of economic inequality, most notably income inequality measured using the distribution of income (the amount of money people are paid) and wealth inequality measured using the distribution of wealth (the amount of we ...
between Russians, solving the problem of social tension, as well as "the transition to a social world based on the principles of justice and equality before the law of all citizens of Russia."
In economics, the party adheres to centrist
Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to the l ...
views, according to which it is necessary to avoid both complete freedom of economic relations, which is the cause of too much economic and social inequality, and the distribution of public goods on an equalizing basis, which is the cause of slowing economic and social development.
Electoral results
Presidential elections
Moscow mayoral elections
Novosibirsk mayoral elections
See also
* Alexei Navalny
Alexei Anatolievich Navalny ( rus, links=no, Алексей Анатольевич Навальный, , ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej ɐnɐˈtolʲjɪvʲɪtɕ nɐˈvalʲnɨj; born 4 June 1976) is a Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, Russian opposition ...
* Politics of Russia
The politics of Russia take place in the framework of the federation, federal semi-presidential system, semi-presidential republic of Russia. According to the Constitution of Russia, the President of Russia is head of state, and of a multi-par ...
* Russian opposition
Opposition to the government of President Vladimir Putin in Russia can be divided between the parliamentary opposition parties in the State Duma and the various non-systemic opposition organizations. While the former are largely viewed as bei ...
References
Bibliography
*
External links
Official website
Official Facebook account
{{Russian political movements
2012 establishments in Russia
Anti-corruption parties
Centrist parties in Russia
Civic nationalism
Liberal parties in Russia
Opposition to Vladimir Putin
Political parties established in 2012
Populist parties
Russian democracy movements
Alexei Navalny