All-Russia People's Front

I’ve been getting a lot of questions along the lines of, “So what do you think of the All-Russia People’s Front?” Here’s my answer. Since lately labor collectives at various enterprises across the country have been reacting enthusiastically to the creation of the ONF, sending it congratulatory telegrams and even joining it, our own modest labor collective decided to greet the ONF as well. Since the Front has no legal address, we wrote to the Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Justice: To the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation Yury Ya. Chaika, Active State Counselor of Justice 125993, Moscow, ul. B. Dmitrovka, 15a from Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny residing at: XXXXX, Moscow, XXXXXXXXXXXX phone: XXXXXXXX Dear Yury Yakovlevich, On May 6, 2011, the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, V.V. Putin, announced the creation of a new organization, the “All-Russia People’s Front” (hereinafter, the ONF), which would “bring together public organizations, political parties, and citizens who share common values connected with love for the Motherland, rising public prosperity, strengthening the power of our state, and the search for fair solutions in the social sphere.” On May 7, 2011, V.V. Putin met with representatives of a number of public organizations. The Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation proposed that this meeting be considered the first session of the ONF coordinating council, that he himself be considered its Chairman, and that those present be considered its members. At present, according to the ONF’s official website (http://narodfront.ru/), in addition to the aforementioned federal coordinating council of the ONF, regional coordinating councils of the ONF have been created and are functioning in every constituent entity of the Russian Federation, and the total number of organizations that have “joined” the ONF is around four hundred. In addition, the ONF has a draft declaration on its establishment (http://narodfront.ru/docs/about/declaration.html), proclaimed on behalf of representatives of public associations who took part in the first session of the coordinating council. Among the basic principles of the ONF’s activity are: the absolute equality of all associations within the ONF; the joint participation of “ONF participants” in elections to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, with coordinated formation of a common list of candidates from the United Russia party; the openness of the ONF to all who share its goals and objectives. To summarize the above, based on its organizational structure, socio-political objectives, principles of equality among founders, members, and participants, as well as the nature of membership, and in accordance with current legislation—namely Article 117 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, Article 6 of Federal Law No. 7-FZ of January 12, 1996 “On Non-Commercial Organizations,” and Articles 5, 6, 7, and 9 of Federal Law No. 82-FZ of May 19, 1995 “On Public Associations”—the ONF is a non-commercial organization in the form of a public association created as a public movement, operating without state registration and without acquiring the rights of a legal entity. * D**uring the existence of the ONF, federal legislation of the Russian Federation has repeatedly been grossly violated, and continues to be violated, by the ONF and by persons serving on its governing bodies. I. Thus, under Article 5 of Federal Law No. 82-FZ of May 19, 1995 “On Public Associations,” a public association is understood to mean a voluntary, self-governing, non-commercial formation created on the initiative of citizens who have united on the basis of common interests to achieve the common goals specified in the charter of the public association (its charter goals). Under Article 6 of the same law, the founders of a public association are individuals and legal entities that are themselves public associations, who convened a congress (conference) or general meeting at which the charter of the public association is adopted and its governing and audit/revision bodies are formed. T***hus, the law imperatively links acquisition of the legal status of a “public association” to the simultaneous fulfillment of three requirements: 1) holding a general meeting, 2) adopting a charter, and 3) forming governing and audit/revision bodies. Otherwise, the association is outside the law and outside the legal framework. As noted above, on May 7, 2011, the first session of the ONF coordinating council took place—that is, a general meeting was held and governing bodies were formed. However, to this day, in violation of the above legal provisions, no ONF charter has been adopted. The published draft declaration on the establishment of the ONF is not a charter. That is, to date the ONF has not acquired the status of a public association. However—and this deserves special emphasis—in violation of the law, participants are actively joining the ONF (already around 400), submitting the required applications and receiving approval from the federal and regional coordinating councils. The situation that has arisen is absurd and incompatible with the fundamental principles of law, because it is impossible to become a member or participant of some formation that does not yet legally exist. II. The ONF is violating Clause 5 of Article 6 of Federal Law No. 82-FZ of May 19, 1995 “On Public Associations,” according to which participants in a public association are individuals and legal entities that are themselves public associations, who have expressed support for the goals of that association and/or its specific actions, and who take part in its activities without mandatory formalization of the terms of their participation, unless otherwise provided by the charter. A***ccording to information presented on the ONF’s official website in the section “Organizations that have joined the ONF,” its participants include, in addition to legal entities that are public associations, a huge number of legal entities in other organizational and legal forms, such as associations (unions), non-commercial partnerships, and others, which directly contradicts the requirements of the law. III. On the aforementioned ONF website, in the “Join” section, there is an invitation for “labor collectives of enterprises” to join the People’s Front, for which they are instructed to submit an application to V.V. Putin’s public reception office. At the same time, as repeatedly stated above, participants in a public association may be only individuals and legal entities that are themselves public associations. Moreover, it must be especially emphasized that under current Russian law, neither labor collectives of enterprises nor labor collectives in general are subjects of legal relations. *** It should be noted that the concept of a “labor collective” was widely used in Soviet labor legislation. In particular, this legal construct appeared in the Labor Code of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR, Soviet Russia), approved on December 9, 1971, which ceased to be in force on February 1, 2002. IV. The ONF is violating Clause 1 of Article 28 of Federal Law No. 82-FZ of May 19, 1995 “On Public Associations,” under which the official name of a public association must contain an indication of its organizational-legal form, territorial scope, and the nature of its activity. In the draft declaration on the establishment of the ONF, it is stated that the latter is a “broad coalition of public forces.” No such organizational-legal form is provided for by the legislation of the Russian Federation, and no other indication appears in documents, media publications, or statements and appeals by members of the coordinating council and its chairman. V. An article in the newspaper Kommersant, “United Russia Dug In Behind the ‘People’s Front’” (dated May 25, 2011, http://kommersant.ru/doc/1647133), states that according to V.V. Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov, premises have been selected for the ONF’s office and headquarters, namely that “it will be located in ‘leased premises’ in the Moscow mayor’s office building on New Arbat.” I***t is unclear how the ONF, not being a legal entity or a public association—that is, not being a subject of civil legal relations—could have entered into a lease agreement for non-residential premises for an “office and headquarters.” In light of the above, there are every reason to believe that the ONF is unlawfully occupying premises in the Moscow mayor’s office building on New Arbat. VI. Under Article 11 of Federal Constitutional Law No. 2-FKZ of December 17, 1997 “On the Government of the Russian Federation,” members of the Government of the Russian Federation may not use for non-official purposes information or material-technical, financial, or informational resources intended solely for official activity. At the same time, a member of the Government of the Russian Federation—its Chairman, V.V. Putin—has, from the moment he announced the creation of the ONF up to the present, constantly used the material-technical, financial, and informational resources of the Government of the Russian Federation to achieve the goals and carry out the tasks of the ONF. I**n particular, televised addresses and ONF meetings held on government premises and at the expense of the Government of the Russian Federation during the Prime Minister’s working hours, in the absence of any information about time off or vacation,* coverage of ONF activities through the Prime Minister’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov during his working hours, etc. Thus, V.V. Putin, as Chairman of the ONF coordinating council, is grossly violating the above legal provision, which directly infringes the rights of taxpayers. Under Article 2 of Federal Law No. 82-FZ of May 19, 1995 “On Public Associations,” this Federal Law applies to all public associations created on the initiative of citizens, with the exception of religious organizations, as well as commercial organizations and the non-commercial unions (associations) created by them. As follows from V.V. Putin’s statements, as well as from the ONF’s activities covered in the media, the latter is neither a religious organization nor a commercial organization or a union thereof; accordingly, the above federal law unquestionably applies to it as well. T***hus, there are repeated and gross violations by the ONF of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, federal constitutional laws, federal laws, and other regulatory legal acts, which under Article 44 of Federal Law No. 82-FZ of May 19, 1995 “On Public Associations” constitutes grounds for the liquidation of the ONF or a ban on its activities. ***Under Article 41 of that federal law, in the event of violations of the legislation of the Russian Federation by public associations that do not possess the rights of a legal entity, responsibility for such violations is borne by the persons serving on the governing bodies of those associations, namely the Chairman of the federal coordinating council of the ONF, V.V. Putin, and its members B.V. Gryzlov, A.V. Andriyanov, S.R. Borisov, A.N. Vasilyev, V.V. Gutenev, V.B. Yefimov, V.I. Ivanova, S.N. Katyrin, F.A. Klintsevich, E.F. Lakhova, V.I. Lysakov, M.A. Moiseyev, T.V. Prokopenko, V.N. Plotnikov, L.M. Roshal, V.V. Ryazansky, B.Yu. Titov, M.V. Shmakov, and A.N. Shokhin. Under Federal Law No. 82-FZ of May 19, 1995 “On Public Associations,” an application to the court for suspension of activities or liquidation of an all-Russian public association is submitted by the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. Part 2 of Article 21 of Federal Law No. 2202-1 of January 17, 1992 “On the Prosecutor’s Office of the Russian Federation” provides that compliance inspections are conducted on the basis of information received by the prosecutor’s office concerning facts of legal violations requiring prosecutorial measures. On the basis of the foregoing, I REQUEST: That an inspection be conducted into the compliance of the “All-Russia People’s Front” and the persons serving on its governing bodies with federal legislation. If violations of federal legislation are identified, then depending on their degree and nature, that a submission be made to V.V. Putin, Chairman of the coordinating council of the “All-Russia People’s Front,” demanding that the violations be remedied, or that an application be filed with the court for suspension of activities or liquidation of the said fictitious public association. A.A. Navalny June 21, 2011