Leaders of New Federative Party Outline Its Program

Paul Goble

            Staunton, March 2 -- In advance of the Duma elections, many groups are seeking to organize new political parties. Few of these are registered and most haven’t generated much interest. But one, although not also yet registered, that has attracted some attention on the Internet and has members in 20 federal subjects is the new Federative Party of Russia.

            Three of its leaders, Oleg Khomutinnikov, Vladimir Zhilkin, and Aleksandr Kiselevich, all from the Chernozem region of central Russia, outlined their program for MK-Chernozem, the largest newspaper in that area (chr.mk.ru/politics/2020/03/02/zachem-i-dlya-kogo-chernozeme-rozhdaet-novye-politicheskie-proekty.html and at region.expert/fedparty-interview/).

            Their main programmatic points are the following:

·         “Our country is a federation, a union of equal subjects. This is written in the Constitution and is the basis of the federative treaty. But in fact, federalism in Russia has turned out to be fake.”

·         “People in the regions beyond the Moscow ring road feel the organization of economic and political life in the country is unjust and seek a way out … We see that way out in the development of federalism.”

·         “Power must belong to the regions rather than having everyone serve Moscow. We know better how we should live. Money earned locally must develop the regions and not only Moscow. The main idea of the party … is the equality of the subjects.

·         “Income from natural resources must go to each citizen.”

·         “The country needs a clean environment … We must not solve the ecological problems of the center at the expense of the regions.”

·         “There must be an independent court. We don’t believe bureaucrats in judicial robes and want to elect them ourselves.”

·         Rumors to the contrary, “Mikhail Khodorkovsky does not have any relationship to the party or its foundation. He now lives abroad, and the party is the affair of people from the regions within Russia.”

·         “Constitutional changes are needed: one man cannot decide for the entire country and rule in fact for life … [But] all talk about a State Council and other artificial institutions is a path to the past. There must be direct elections at all levels.”

·         “People are fed up with the chaos in the country. They are fed up with empty promises, falsified voting, oligarch-thieves, and lying on television.”

·         “The problem of the political system in Russia is that everyone builds pyramids and no one tries to create a community. That is how our state is constructed. It has turned out that people are not equal.” Instead, one is a boss; and the rest are to take his orders.