The Russian Party of Freedom and Justice (RPSS; russian: Российская партия свободы и справедливости; РПСС, Rossiyskaya partiya svobody i spravedlivosti; RPSS) is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

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 ...

established and registered in 2012 as Communist Party of Social Justice.

History

The party was created with the participation of the leader of the

Democratic Party of Russia The Democratic Party of Russia or DPR (russian: link=no, Демократическая Партия России, ''Demokraticheskaya Partiya Rossii'') is a conservative Russian political party that was founded in 1990. Under the leadership ...

and politician Andrey Bogdanov. In the 2013 elections in

Volgograd Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), geographical renaming, formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stal ...

, the party received 5.04% (9055 votes) breaking the five-percent threshold and received one seat in the city Parliament. In 2014, Bogdanov became party leader, succeeding Yuri Morozov in this post. Andrei Brezhnev, grandson of

General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry. In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED O ...

Leonid Brezhnev Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev; uk, links= no, Леонід Ілліч Брежнєв, . (19 December 1906– 10 November 1982) was a Soviet Union, Soviet politician who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Gener ...

, was elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the party. In this year's election, Brezhnev was the candidate for the Parliament of

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

and

Sevastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...

, but the party did not win any seats. In April 2021, the party was renamed the Russian Party of Freedom and Justice.

Konstantin Rykov Konstantin Igorevich Rykov (''Константин Игоревич Рыков''), a.k.a. Jason Foris (Джейсон Форис) (born 27 May 1979) is a Russian politician. Biography Rykov was born in Moscow. Since 1998 he made his mark as one ...

became the chairman of the party, and Maksim Shevchenko became the leader. On September 9, 2022, Maxim Shevchenko stated in his official Telegram channel that he no longer considers himself the leader of the RPSS and does not participate in the activities of a political party.

Criticism

The

Communist Party of the Russian Federation , anthem = , seats1_title = Seats in the State Duma , seats1 = , seats2_title = Seats in the Federation Council , seats2 = , seats3_title = Governors , seats3 = , seats4_title ...

(CPRF) has accused the party of being a creation of the

Kremlin The Kremlin ( rus, Московский Кремль, r=Moskovskiy Kreml', p=ˈmɐˈskofskʲɪj krʲemlʲ, t=Moscow Kremlin) is a fortified complex in the center of Moscow founded by the Rurik dynasty, Rurik dynasty. It is the best known of th ...

and

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 ...

to siphon votes away from the CPRF. CPRF points out that the CPSJ nominated candidates in single-mandate constituencies who has the same names as candidates from the CPRF, in order to confuse voters. Sergei Obukhov asserts that "it is not the CPSJ who stands behind the nomination of namesakes, but the administrative resource and the

ruling party The ruling party or governing party in a democratic parliamentary or presidential system is the political party or coalition holding a majority of elected positions in a parliament, in the case of parliamentary systems, or holding the executive ...

". In 2020, the party nominated Gennady Shchadov in the elections for the governor of

Irkutsk Oblast Irkutsk Oblast (russian: Ирку́тская о́бласть, Irkutskaya oblast; bua, Эрхүү можо, Erkhüü mojo) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in southeastern Siberia in the basins of the Angara, Lena, and Nizh ...

while Mikhail Shchapov was nominated from the CPRF. Leader of the Left Front

Sergei Udaltsov Sergei Stanislavovich Udaltsov (russian: Серге́й Станиславович Удальцов; born 16 February 1977) is a Russian left-wing political activist. He is the unofficial leader of the Vanguard of Red Youth (AKM). In 2011 and 2 ...

said that "the nature of the actions of the new party (RPSS) gives reason to think that they will be a

spoiler party Vote splitting is an electoral effect in which the distribution of votes among multiple similar candidates reduces the chance of winning for any of the similar candidates, and increases the chance of winning for a dissimilar candidate. Vote spl ...

". He called Maksim Shevchenko's joining the RPSS "a betrayal of his comrades at a crucial moment" and considered possible his exclusion from Left Front.

Former logos

KPSSp logo.svg, Communist Party of Social Justice (2012–2017) KPSSp logo 2020.svg, Communist Party of Social Justice (2017–2021) Logo of the Russian Party of Freedom and Justice.svg, Alternative logo (2021–)

References

{{Socialist parties in the Russian Federation 2012 establishments in Russia 2021 establishments in Russia Nationalist parties in Russia Political parties established in 2012 Political parties established in 2021 Registered political parties in Russia