But the words “Russia of the Future” themselves are allowed.
That is exactly what Putin has just done again, to keep our party off the ballot once more. United Russia (the ruling pro-Kremlin party) must have such enormous approval ratings, and we must be so tiny, marginal, and unsupported, that those puffed-up men in the Kremlin are terrified to face us on the ballot—even with vote-rigging, administrative resources, and federal TV channels on their side.
On May 15, for the ninth time, we submitted documents to register a political party. This time under the name “Russia of the Future.”
And now—just like that—a party with exactly the same name has appeared in the legal entities registry.
Some of you may remember a fool who goes by the name “honest lawyer Alexander Zorin.” His job is to churn out smear pieces against the candidates we support in elections.
In Kostroma, he was very active—running around all our meetings in a ridiculous bright tie.
Zorin heads one of the Kremlin’s technical parties—the Party of Free Citizens—and now it has been renamed. The name has been stolen. In response to the documents we submitted, the Justice Ministry will tell us: “We cannot register your party, because a party with that name already exists.”
Of course, this is completely illegal. Of course, there are documents proving that we have long had an organizing committee for a party with this name—but we have been through this before.
In 2012, Bogdanov, a Putin political strategist, renamed his party Rodnaya Strana to Narodny Alyans and stole our name.
In 2018, a creep named Vitaly Serukanov (these days you constantly see him on TV “exposing” us under the caption “former ACF employee,” even though he did not work at ACF—the Anti-Corruption Foundation—for a single day) took over Bogdanov’s party Civic Position and renamed it the Party of Progress.
So why do we keep trying to register?
The answer is very simple: it is our right. Our approach here is formal: if we have the right to assemble, we file notice for a rally and go to it; if we have the right to a party, we submit the paperwork for one.
That does not rule out other methods of fighting the power of crooks and thieves, but we are not going to voluntarily give up the most important right of all—the right to political self-organization.
Every case of refusal will one day become a criminal prosecution, and everyone responsible will go to prison. There will be no need for any lustration—they are criminals under the law as it stands.
However, persistence in seeking registration should not mean mindless stubbornness. Tactics must change to reflect real-life circumstances.
We understand that our party will not be allowed into elections right now—we would pretty quickly crush both the “systemic opposition” and United Russia. For electoral struggle today, people need to take part in “Smart Voting.”
It is here for the whole country.
It is here for St. Petersburg.
In Moscow, we are organizing a special signature collection center to help all independent candidates.
The Kremlin is cunning. We must be more cunning. Sign up for Smart Voting right now, and in September we will send you the name of the candidate you should vote for so that fewer United Russia members become deputies.