Just Russia

Справедливая Россия Fair Russia
Party leader	Sergei Mironov
founding	October 28, 2006
Headquarters	Moscow
Alignment	Social Democracy Social Liberalism Democratic Socialism
Colours)	Red orange
State Duma	23/450
Governors	0/85
Area dumen	315/3787
Number of members	414,558
International connections	Socialist International
Website	www.spravedlivo.ru

The Just Russia party ( Russian Справедливая Россия , full name: Just Russia: Home, Retirees, Life; official abbreviation СР-РПЖ , more often just СР ) is a party in Russia that was founded in 2006 and describes itself as a social democratic party . Although it was originally built by the Kremlin to absorb opposition voters, it is in part actually in opposition to the government.

Political orientation

The party describes itself as social democratic , but can only be compared to a limited extent with social democratic parties of the western style. This is due to their roots - three merger parties - and the special landscape of parties in Russia with their, among other things, characteristic attitude towards the government. Some parts of the political observers described a fair Russia as close to the government, especially in the early part of the party and since the Ukraine crisis, while others described it as moderately oppositional, especially in the period in between, and as inconsistent left-conservative or left-liberal political orientation.

The party is social democratic in its self-portrayals, and at the time of its founding also borrowed from the social revolutionaries . She advocates easing the tax burden of business people, their support against arbitrariness of officials, restoration of democratic governor and mayoral elections, a progressive income tax and the nationalization of raw materials monopoly. Its aim is the establishment of a welfare state in Russia, the promotion of citizen participation and citizens' initiatives and local self-government.

Some observers of Russian politics to this day regard Just Russia as a planned strengthening of the Putin- loyal camp on the left by Vladimir Putin's circle and as a counterpart to the officially conservative Putin party United Russia . According to this view, their goal is to catch votes to the detriment of left and populist parties critical of the government, such as the communists , national Bolsheviks and Yabloko .

Other publicists see the party as an opportunity to expand the diversity of opinion in Russia. This is also supported by critical disputes between “Just Russia” and the ruling party “United Russia” over political issues, a social democratic profile that has increased in recent years and its relatively strong position compared to the fragmented opposition (parliamentary group in the Duma). For example, after 2009, Just Russia rejected numerous government projects in the Russian State Duma and also actively participated in opposition actions. Just Russia is a member of the Socialist International and actively seeks contact with members of parliament from left-wing democratic parties.

History of the party

choice	Result
General election December 2, 2007	7.74%
Presidential election March 2, 2008	Support from Dmitry Medvedev
General election December 4th 2011	13.2%
Presidential election March 4, 2012	3.90%
General election September 18, 2016	6.22%
Presidential election March 18, 2018	Support from Vladimir Putin

Emergence

Just Russia is an unification of the three previous parties that were considered close to the government, Rodina , Russian Pensioners' Party and Russian Party of Life . Only the smallest of the three original parties had a social democratic orientation, the other two were left-wing nationalist and self-portrayed conservative or represented the interests of the Pensioner. The then chairman Sergei Mironov publicly acknowledged his fundamental support for Putin's policies at the time shortly after the foundation. One wanted to support the basic direction of the government, but to develop its own, more left-wing profile for detailed and factual issues . The more critical members of Rodina, who recently distanced themselves from the government, initially criticized the association. The criticism quickly fell silent, however, as it was probably only the merger that prevented the three original parties like many others from losing their seats in parliament due to the dominant position of the ruling party United Russia and instead forming a permanent parliamentary group together.

Electoral success from 2007 to 2009

Right from the start, Just Russia was represented in the Russian State Duma as well as in numerous regional parliaments of Russia by MPs from the three original parties. In its history, the dominant events for the party so far have been the participation in several local and three Duma elections. In the presidential elections, the majority did not put up a candidate of their own.

In the Stavropol region it became the strongest party in the 2007 local elections for the first time with 37%, ahead of the ruling party United Russia (24% here). Given the otherwise dominant position of the ruling party across the country, that was a minor sensation. Just Russia became the second strongest party behind United Russia in five regions and now has MPs for the regional parliament in all but one of the regions. In addition to the ruling party, the main competitor in elections is the communist KPRF , which, like Just Russia, presents itself as an advocate of the "common people" in the election campaign and in 2007 became the second strongest party in about as many regions. In the same year, the party was joined by the People's Party of the Russian Federation and three other small parties.

In the Duma elections in December 2007, Just Russia made it as one of only four parties to pass the 7% threshold and entered the Russian State Duma with 34 parliamentary groups. It was the only party besides the communists and Shirinovsky's LDPR to stand out from the crowd of otherwise unsuccessful parties besides Putin's United Russia. According to the official final result, it reached 7.74%.

At the beginning of 2008 the party announced that it wanted to appear more social democratic in the western sense. In local elections in numerous regions in 2009, she entered all regional parliaments with one exception. According to its own information, it now has 309 members in 66 regional parliaments. In the same year the two small parties, the Social Justice Party and the Green Party of Russia, merged with the Just Russia Party. In 2009 she challenged the exclusion of her own candidates and the outcome of the local elections won by United Russia in court in two Russian regions. In 2008 the party joined the Socialist International.

Distancing from the Kremlin from 2010 to 2013

In 2010, Just Russia took part in opposition actions in Kaliningrad . The chairman Mironov thereupon expressed himself critical of the government's policy, but a little later nevertheless entered a coalition with the ruling party United Russia. In the period that followed, Justice Russia politicians became more critical of the government.

In April 2011 Nikolai Levitschew was elected as the new party leader. His predecessor Mironov, known in Russian politics as a close friend to the government and a longtime friend of Putin, was put up as a presidential candidate for 2012. While the party recorded significant gains in the 2011 Duma elections (13.2% compared to 7.8% in 2007), Mironov's result in the presidential elections, bottom of all candidates, disappointed with less than four percent of the vote. Since other functionaries of the party had already been involved in the opposition movement in the context of both elections, observers of Russian politics expected the party to be more critical of the government in the years up to 2013, also in cooperation with more radical opposition such as the communists. At that time, Just Russia had the third largest parliamentary group in the Russian parliament after the ruling party United Russia and the Communists, with 64 members since 2011. Twelve members of the party sit on the Russian Federation Council . In 2011 and 2012, the party continued to strengthen cooperation with extra-parliamentary left and other left parties in Russia. Several leading politicians from Just Russia took an active part in the protests against election rigging at the end of 2011 and brought them to the Duma.

In 2012, the party continued on the path it had begun from a government foster child towards the opposition. After the election of Dmitri Medvedev as the new prime minister on May 14, 2012, four members of the Duma faction of Just Russia were expelled for voting for Medvedev. Just Russia sharply criticized United Russia's restrictions on the right of assembly and tried to block them in the State Duma, as well as - as the only Duma parliamentary group - the statutory registration of foreign-funded NGOs as foreign agents. The immunity of the deputy group leader Gennady Gudkov was lifted by a majority decision of the ruling party and the LDPR, which observers of Russian politics saw as a reaction to the party's new opposition course. To Gudkov himself presented Fair Russia but in the following years not solidarity, but expelled him from the party. Western observers and political competitors then again questioned the party's opposition will. However, there are other representatives of a course that is emphatically critical of the government in the party. In a speech, MP Ponomarev described the United Russia party as a “party of crooks and thieves”, whereupon he was banned from speaking for a month by the parliamentary majority.

Rapprochement from the Ukraine crisis in 2014

As of 2014, the party's renewed turn to government policy can be felt. With regard to the Crimean crisis , Just Russia, like the majority of the Russian population, supports the course of Putin and his party and has also launched its own bill for the simplified admission of territories into the Russian Federation. This was withdrawn in order not to complicate the inclusion of the Crimea on the previous route. The controversial law on greater control of Russian bloggers was also introduced to the State Duma by a member of the party.

On the other hand, however, she turned against a bill by United Russia to criminalize the "concealment" of dual citizenship and cooperated in the gubernatorial elections in Saint Petersburg against the government with the liberals of Yabloko . Furthermore, in several Russian regions, including St. Petersburg, the local administration obstructed candidates from Just Russia from participating in gubernatorial elections, with the party, as the second largest in the flat country, having the best election chances after United Russia.

On March 25, 2015, the Prosecutor General filed a motion in the Duma to lift Ilya Ponomaryov's immunity. He was the only member of the Duma who voted against the admission of Crimea. He would become the third member of his party's parliament whose immunity is lifted. Ponomarjow did not return to Russia after a trip abroad because he was threatened with arrest. Ponomarev said the judiciary's decision would lead to an international process that would allow him to defend his reputation. He hopes that the international courts will “work according to different standards than those of the courts of the Russian Federation”.

In the parliamentary elections in Russia in 2016 , Just Russia lost over half of its voters, but made it into the Russian State Duma again with 6.2%. With 23 MPs, it has since formed the smallest of four Duma factions. As a result , the party did not put up its own candidate for the 2018 presidential election in Russia , but decided to support the incumbent Vladimir Putin. The party has recently been increasingly seen as a "pro Kremlin party", but there is also a group of real left-wing politicians and a few opposition members are running on their lists.

structure

The party is headed by a chairman (currently Nikolai Levitschew). Subordinate to this is a central council. The party is represented in all regions of Russia and with 414,558 members is the second largest after the state party United Russia.

The party has its own women's and youth association and supports the youth association League for Justice . According to the party, the youth association has around 50,000 members. A Just Russia Institute for social research and development is also affiliated with the party, roughly comparable to the party foundations in German-speaking countries. The party maintains its own online newspaper under the name Socialist , a meeting center and a party-affiliated association of 19 support organizations, from which the predecessor organizations were often already recruited.

International activity

Just Russia has been a member of the Socialist International since 2008 and before that it had observer status. She regularly takes part in events organized by the Party of European Socialists . According to its own statement, it maintains close contacts with social democratic and socialist parties in the EU and the CIS, as well as social democratic foundations and the Chinese Communist Party .

Important representatives

• Sergei Mironov , 2012 presidential candidate and party leader 2006–2011; former chairman of the Russian Federation Council
• Nikolai Levitschew , party leader since 2011
• Ilya Ponomarev , opposition leader during the 2011 protests in 2012 and the only member of the Duma who voted against the incorporation of Crimea into the Russian Federation in 2014 .
• Oksana Dmitrieva, press secretary and opposition activist
• Former member: Gennadi Gudkow , previously Vice-Chairman of the Duma parliamentary group and member of the opposition

swell

1. ↑ http://www.minjust.ru/ru/activity/nko/partii/SR/ ( Memento of the original of July 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ http://www.parties-and-elections.eu/russia.html
3. ↑ Per-Arne Bodin, Stefan Hedlund, Elena Namli (eds.): Power and Legitimacy: Challenges from Russia , Volume 39 of Routledge contemporary Russia and Eastern Europe series , 2013, ISBN 978-0-415-67776-9 , page 23 , Author Klaus von Beyme
4. ↑ http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/russland724.html ( Memento from September 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
5. ↑ ^{a b} Russia's left hopes for an anti-Kremlin bonus. In: Spiegel Online. January 21, 2012, accessed November 29, 2014 . 
6. ↑ http://www.koenigsberger-express.com/index.php?id_article=2532&kat=2&PHPSESSID=16f5d884b57d3ba122b22ed164e5064a
7. ↑ Gerechtes Russland Brief description ( Memento of the original from September 11, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
9. ^ Benjamin Bidder: Russia's parties and their leading candidates. In: Spiegel Online. December 3, 2011, accessed November 29, 2014 . 
10. ↑ Source: Gabriele Krone-Schmalz, What happens in Russia, ISBN 978-3-7766-2525-7 and http://www.russland.ru/mainmore.php?tpl=Ppolitik&iditem=18924 ( Memento of the original from 19. December 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
11. ^ Homepage of the party
12. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
13. ↑ http://www.russland.ru/mainmore.php?tpl=Special+Wahlen&iditem=691 ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
14. ↑ http://www.russland.ru/mainmore.php?tpl=Special+Wahlen&iditem=727 ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
15. ↑ http://www.russland.ru/mainmore.php?tpl=Ppolitik&iditem=18924 ( Memento of the original from December 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
16. ↑ http://www.aktuell.ru/russland/news/regionalwahlen_putins_er_ueberall_mit_kraeftiger_mehrheit_23810.html
17. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
18. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
19. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original dated December 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
20. ↑ http://www.russland.ru/mainmore.php?tpl=Ppolitik&iditem=21155 ( Memento of the original from December 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
21. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
22. ↑ http://www.kaliningrad.aktuell.ru/kaliningrad/stadtnews/nach_grossdemo_in_kaliningrad_koennten_koepfe_rolle_341.html
23. ↑ russland.RU of February 8, 2010: Mironov exchanges criticism of Putin against job - parties United and Just Russia agree coalition ( memento of the original from December 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
24. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
25. ↑ http://russland.ru/schlagzeilen/morenews.php?iditem=53082 ( Memento of the original from December 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
26. ↑ http://www.russland.ru/rupol0010/morenews.php?iditem=23368 ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
27. ↑ http://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/russland-nach-der-wahl-opposition-plant-neue-proteste-gegen-putin/6294932.html
28. ↑ http://www.russland.ru/rupol0010/morenews.php?iditem=23365 ( Memento of the original from October 25, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
29. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
30. ↑ http://russland.ru/rupol0010/morenews.php?iditem=23196 ( Memento of the original from January 27, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
31. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
32. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
33. ↑ russland.RU of October 15, 2009: Protest in the Moscow Duma ( Memento of the original of December 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
34. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
35. ↑ opposition Duma faction Expels Four over Medvedev Vote on RIA Novosti on May 14, 2012 found.
36. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from June 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
37. ↑ House of Commons passes controversial agent law. In: Spiegel Online. July 13, 2012, accessed November 29, 2014 . 
38. ↑ http://www.russland.ru/rupol0010/morenews.php?iditem=23728 ( Memento of the original from November 9, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
39. ↑ http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/russland724.html ( Memento from September 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
40. ^ ^{A b} Benjamin Bidder: Real opposition is like treason. In: Spiegel Online. March 15, 2013, accessed November 29, 2014 . 
41. ↑ Ilya Ponomarev: Last "White Guard" in the Duma. In: derStandard.at. October 18, 2012, accessed December 5, 2017 . 
42. ↑ http://www.spravedlivo.ru/5_58991.html
43. ↑ http://de.ria.ru/zeitungen/20140318/268059463.html
44. ↑ http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/state-duma-approves-bill-classifying-bloggers-as-mass-media/498415.html
45. ↑ http://www.spravedlivo.ru/5_60547.html
46. ↑ http://www.spzeitung.ru/2014/08/gouverneurswahlen-dmitrewa-will-mit-ungueltigen-wahlzetten-zweiten-wahlgang-erzwingen/  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically saved as marked defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
47. ↑ http://www.spzeitung.ru/2014/07/wahlfilter-vorgeschoben-oxana-dmitrewa-faellt-aus-dem-rennen-um-den-gouverneursposten/  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: Der Link was automatically marked as broken. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
48. ^ Ilya Ponomarjow is to be deprived of parliamentary immunity Kommersant, March 25, 2015
49. ↑ Sole MP against the annexation of Crimea: Russia has Ponomarev searched. tagesschau.de, July 17, 2015, archived from the original on July 19, 2015 ; Retrieved July 17, 2015 . 
50. ↑ http://cikrf.ru/activity/docs/postanovleniya/28404/
51. ↑ "Just Russia" wants to support Putin. Euronews, December 26, 2017, accessed July 17, 2015 . 
52. ↑ https://www.heise.de/tp/features/Interview-mit-russischem-Linkspolitiker-Es-gibt-eine-Mehrheit-fuer-einen-Wandel-4493423.html?seite=2
53. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
54. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
55. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated November 4, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
56. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original dated November 3, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
57. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from October 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
58. ↑ http://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/russland-nach-der-wahl-opposition-plant-neue-proteste-gegen-putin/6294932.html
59. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
60. ↑ http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/russland724.html ( Memento from September 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive )

Web links

• Party website
• Europe has no backbone. Duma deputy on the Putin system. In: the daily newspaper . December 1st 2011, accessed December 1, 2011 (the deputy chairman of Just Russia , Gennady Gudkov , the 2011 parliamentary elections ).