Within

Russian political parties This article discusses political parties in Russia. The Russia, Russian Federation has a ''de jure'' multi-party system, however it operates as a dominant-party system. , six parties have members in the federal parliament, the State Duma, with o ...

, liberal parties advocate the expansion of political and civil freedoms and mostly oppose

Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...

. In Russia, the term " liberal" can refer to wide range of politicians, from the

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

and proponents of shock therapy to left-liberals and progressives. The term "liberal democrats" is often used for members of the far-right nationalist

Liberal Democratic Party of Russia LDPR – Liberal Democratic Party of Russia () is a Russian Ultranationalism, ultranationalist and Right-wing populism, right-wing populist List of political parties in Russia, political party. It succeeded the Liberal Democratic Party of the ...

. There are

Russian opposition Opposition to the government of President Vladimir Putin in Russia, commonly referred to as the Russian opposition, can be divided between the parliamentary opposition parties in the State Duma and the various Non-system opposition, non-systemi ...

and pro-government liberal political parties in Russia. Pro-government liberal politicians support Putin's policy in economics. There are no liberal factions in Russian parliament at the moment.

Centre-left Centre-left politics is the range of left-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. Ideologies commonly associated with it include social democracy, social liberalism, progressivism, and green politics. Ideas commo ...

liberalism was represented in the

State Duma The State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly (Russia), Federal Assembly of Russia, with the upper house being the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council. It was established by the Constitution of Russia, Constitution of t ...

Russian parliament The Federal Assembly is the bicameral national legislature of Russia. The upper house is the Federation Council (Russia), Federation Council, and the lower house is the State Duma. The assembly was established by the Constitution of the Russian F ...

by the Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko" (7.86% in 1993 election, 6.89% in 1995, 5.93% in 1999). Pro-government liberalism was represented by the

Our Home – Russia Our Home – Russia (NDR; ; ''Nash dom – Rossiya'', ''NDR'') was a Russian political party that existed from 1995 to the mid-2000s. History Our Home – Russia was founded in 1995 by then Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin. It was a ...

(10.13% in 1995 election), the liberal political party founded by Prime Minister

Viktor Chernomyrdin Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin (, ; 9 April 19383 November 2010) was a Soviet and Russian politician and businessman. He was the Minister of Gas Industry of the Soviet Union (13 February 1985 – 17 July 1989), after which he became first chairm ...

Centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

liberalism was represented by the pro-capitalist party

Democratic Choice of Russia The Democratic Choice of Russia (DCR), known before 1994 as the "Choice of Russia" Bloc (CR), was a Russian centre-right conservative-liberal political party. Later the party was self-disbanded and most members would merge into the Union of ...

(15.51% in 1993) and its successor, the

Union of Right Forces The Union of Right Forces (URF). was a Russian liberal-conservative political public organization and former party, initially founded as an electoral bloc in 1999 and associated with free market reforms, privatization, and the legacy of the "yo ...

(8.52% in 1999 election). Yabloko and the

Republican Party of Russia – People's Freedom Party The People's Freedom Party (), often known by its short form PARNAS (), and formerly the Republican Party of Russia – People's Freedom Party, and initially Republican Party of Russia, was a liberal-democratic political party in Russia. It was ...

are members of

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE Party) is a European political party composed of 76 national-level parties from across Europe, mainly active in the European Union. The ALDE Party is affiliated with Liberal Interna ...

. Yabloko is also a member of

Liberal International Liberal International (LI) is a worldwide organization of liberalism, liberal political parties. The political international was founded in Oxford in 1947 and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal and progressive democratic parties aim ...

. Since

Vladimir Putin's rise to power In the early 2000s, significant political changes took place in Russia with Vladimir Putin's rise to power. He previously held key positions in security forces and government, and he became the successor to President of Russia, President Boris Ye ...

in 2000, many liberal parties and politician has been persecuted.

Liberalism in the Russian Federation

History

Liberalism emerged in Russia before the Russian Revolution and continued to develop among Constitutional Democrats such as

Pavel Milyukov Pavel Nikolayevich Milyukov ( rus, Па́вел Никола́евич Милюко́в, p=mʲɪlʲʊˈkof; 31 March 1943) was a Russian historian and liberal politician. Milyukov was the founder, leader, and the most prominent member of the C ...

living in exile after 1917. After the fall of communism, several new liberal parties were formed, but only one of them

Yabloko The Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko (RUDP Yabloko; rus, Росси́йская объединённая демократи́ческая па́ртия «Я́блоко», Rossiyskaya obyedinyonnaya demokraticheskaya partiya "Yabloko" ...

(''Yabloko – Rosiyskaya Demokraticheskaya Partiya'', a member of

) succeeded in becoming a relevant force. This is a left-of-center liberal party. The

(''Soyuz Pravykh Sil'', a member of

International Democrat Union The International Democracy Union (IDU; known as the International Democrat Union until September 2023) is an international alliance of centre-right to right-wing political parties. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, the IDU consists of 84 fu ...

) is a right-of-center liberal party. It can also be seen as a democratic conservative market party. In this scheme, the party is not included as liberal, being considered a democratic conservative party, but it can also be called liberal because of its pro-

free-market In economics, a free market is an economic system in which the prices of goods and services are determined by supply and demand expressed by sellers and buyers. Such markets, as modeled, operate without the intervention of government or any ot ...

and

anti-authoritarianism Anti-authoritarianism is opposition to authoritarianism. Anti-authoritarians usually believe in full equality before the law and strong civil liberties. Sometimes the term is used interchangeably with anarchism, an ideology which entails opposing a ...

stances. The so-called

is not at all "liberal" – it is a

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

, right-wing,

populist Populism is a contested concept used to refer to a variety of political stances that emphasize the idea of the " common people" and often position this group in opposition to a perceived elite. It is frequently associated with anti-establis ...

party.

Yabloko (1993–)

*1993: Diverse new political parties merged into the social liberal Yavlinksii-Boldyrev-Lukin electoral bloc, led by

Grigorii Yavlinskii Grigory Alekseyevich Yavlinsky (; born 10 April 1952) is a Russian economist and politician. He has held numerous positions in the Soviet and Russian governments across different levels, including in the State Duma. Yavlinsky was one of auth ...

. *1994: The party is renamed

(''Yabloko''). *1995: The party is officially registered. *2003: The party is renamed Russian Democratic Party Yabloko (''Rosiyskaya Demokraticheskaya Partiya/Российская Демократическая Партия Яблоко''). The Yabloko is a member of the

and

Pro- Chernomyrdin and regional party (1995–2000)

*1995:

was formed. *2006: NDR merged into ''

United Russia The All-Russian Political Party United Russia (, ) is the Ruling party, ruling List of political parties in Russia, political party of Russia. As the largest party in the Russian Federation, it holds 325 (or 72.22%) of the 450 seats in the St ...

''.

Democratic Russia

The Democratic Choice of Russia was a centre-right liberal pro-capitalist political party. The Union of Right Forces was a Russian centre-right liberal opposition political party. *1990:

Democratic Party of Russia The Democratic Party of Russia (DPR) is a conservative Russian political party that was founded in 1990. Under the leadership of Andrei Vladimirovich Bogdanov, Andrey Bogdanov, the party advocated the entry of Russia into the European Union. ...

(DPR) was formed. *1990: Republican Party of Russia (RPR) was formed. *1992: Party of Economic Freedom (PES) was formed. *1993: Choice of Russia (VR) was formed. *1994: VR was renamed to

(DVR). *1995: Forward, Russia! was formed. *2001: DVR and PES merge to form

(SPS). *2002: Network Party for Support of the Small and Middle Business (RSPMSB) was formed. *2002: Forward, Russia! merges into RPR. *2004: RSPMSB was renamed to Free Russia. *2004: Our Choice splits from SPS. *2006: Our Choice merges into Russian People's Democratic Union (RNDS). *2007: Free Russia was renamed to Civilian Power. *2008: DPR, Civilian Power and SPS merge to form Right Cause. *2010: RPR and RNDS merge into People's Freedom Party (PARNAS). *2010: Democratic Choice (DV) splits from SPS. *2012: DPR and Civilian Power are refounded. *2012:

Civic Platform The Civic Platform (, PO)The party is officially the Civic Platform of the Republic of Poland (''Platforma Obywatelska Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''). is a Centre-right politics, centre-right liberal conservative political party in Poland. Since ...

splits from Right Cause. *2016: Right Cause renames to

Party of Growth Party of Growth (, ) was a liberal-conservative political party in Russia which had representatives in several local legislatures. Created in March 2016 on the basis of the Right Cause party, the party's main policy stances are liberal free marke ...

. *2017: DV dissolves. *2020: New People was formed. *2023: PARNAS dissolves. *2024: Party of Growth merges into New People.

Solidarnost wide movement (2008–)

Solidarnost is a liberal democratic political movement founded in 2008 by a number of well-known members of the liberal democratic opposition, including

Garry Kasparov Garry Kimovich Kasparov (born Garik Kimovich Weinstein on 13 April 1963) is a Russian Grandmaster (chess), chess grandmaster, former World Chess Champion (1985–2000), political activist and writer. His peak FIDE chess Elo rating system, ra ...

Boris Nemtsov Boris Yefimovich Nemtsov; (9 October 195927 February 2015) was a Russian physicist, liberalism in Russia, liberal politician, and outspoken critic of Vladimir Putin. Early in his political career, he was involved in the introduction of reform ...

and others from the Yabloko and former Union of Right Forces (which had just merged with two pro-Kremlin parties).

Republican Party of Russia – People's Freedom Party (de facto 2010–)

People's Freedom Party "For Russia without Lawlessness and Corruption" is a liberal democratic coalition founded in 2010 by opposition politicians Vladimir Ryzhkov,

Mikhail Kasyanov Mikhail Mikhailovich Kasyanov ( rus, Михаи́л Миха́йлович Касья́нов, , mʲɪxɐˈil mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ kɐˈsʲjanəf, links=no; born 8 December 1957) is a Russian politician who served as Prime Minister of Russia fr ...

and

Vladimir Milov Vladimir Stanislavovich Milov (, born 18 June 1972) is a Russian politician, economist and the former chairman of the Russian political party Democratic Choice from May 2012 to December 2015. He served as Deputy Minister of Energy of the Russian ...

and their organisations Republican Party of Russia, Solidarnost, Russian People's Democratic Union and Democratic Choice. The RPR-PARNAS is a member of

. In 2012, the coalition merged into the officially registered Russian political party RPR-PARNAS (Republican Party of Russia – People's Freedom Party). The RPR-PARNAS is a centre-right liberal opposition political party and it represented in regional parliament in

Yaroslavl Oblast Yaroslavl Oblast is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), which is located in the Central Federal District, surrounded by the Tver Oblast, Tver, Moscow Oblast, Moscow, Ivanovo Oblast, Ivanovo, Vladimir Oblast, Vlad ...

Russian Empire

Background

Mikhail Speransky is sometimes called the father of Russian liberalism. His ideas were discussed and elaborated by such 19th-century liberal republican radicals as

Alexander Herzen Alexander Ivanovich Herzen (; ) was a Russian writer and thinker known as the precursor of Russian socialism and one of the main precursors of agrarian populism (being an ideological ancestor of the Narodniki, Socialist-Revolutionaries, Trudo ...

Boris Chicherin Boris Nikolayevich Chicherin (; 1828 – 1904) was a Russian jurist and political philosopher, who worked out a theory that Russia needed a strong, authoritative government to persevere with liberal reforms. By the time of the Russian Revolut ...

, and

Konstantin Kavelin Konstantin Dmitrievich Kavelin (; November 4, 1818 – May 5, 1885) was a Russian historian, jurist, and sociologist, sometimes called the chief architect of early Russian liberalism. Born in Saint Petersburg into an old noble family, Kavelin ...

. Based on their ideals, various early 20th-century liberal parties evolved, the most important of them being the Constitutional-Democratic Party, headed by

From Liberation Union to Constitutional Democratic Party

*1905: ''The Liberation Union'' (''Soyuz Osvobozhdeniya'') merged with the ''Union of Zemstvo-Constitutionalists'' (''Soyuz Zemstev-Konstitutsionistov'') to form the liberal

Constitutional Democratic Party The Constitutional Democratic Party (, K-D), also called Constitutional Democrats and formally the Party of People's Freedom (), was a political party in the Russian Empire that promoted Western constitutional monarchy—among other policies� ...

(''Konstitutsiono-Demokraticheskaya Partya''), formally known as the ''Party of Popular Freedom'' (''Partiya Narodnoy Svobody''), led by

. *1906: A faction forms the ⇒ '' Party of Democratic Reform'' *October 26 O.S., 1917: The party's newspapers were shut down by the new Soviet regime *November 28 O.S., 1917: Banned by the Soviet regime, the party went underground *1918-1920: Many party leaders were active in the

White movement The White movement,. The old spelling was retained by the Whites to differentiate from the Reds. also known as the Whites, was one of the main factions of the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. It was led mainly by the Right-wing politics, right- ...

*1921-early 1930s: The party continued to function in exile, but slowly disintegrated

Union of October 17

*1905: Conservative liberals formed the

Union of October 17 The Union of 17 October (, ''Soyuz 17 Oktyabrya''), commonly known as the Octobrist Party (Russian: Октябристы, ''Oktyabristy''), was a liberal-reformist constitutional monarchist political party in late Imperial Russia. It represent ...

(''Soyuz Semnadtsatovo Oktyabrya'') and became known as ''Octobrists''. *1906: A left wing faction formed the ⇒ Party for Peaceful Renewal, the party develops to be the party of the landlords. *March 1917: Dissolved after the

February Revolution The February Revolution (), known in Soviet historiography as the February Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and sometimes as the March Revolution or February Coup was the first of Russian Revolution, two revolutions which took place in Russia ...

Moderate Progressive Party

*1905: National liberals established the Moderate Progressive Party (''Umereno-Progresivnaya Partiya''). *1907: Merged into the ⇒ Party for Peaceful Renewal.

Party of Democratic Reform

*1906: A moderate faction of the ⇒ Constitutional Democratic Party formed the Party of Democratic Reform (''Partiya Demokraticheskikh Reform''). *1912: Merged into the ⇒ Progressive Party.

From Party of Peaceful Renovation to Progressist Party

*1906: A left-wing faction of the Octobrists, together with dissidents of the Constitutional Democratic Party and of the Moderate Progressive Party, established the Party of Peaceful Renovation (''Partiya Mirnovo Obnovleniya''). *1912: Merged with the ⇒ Party of Democratic Reform into the Progressist Party (''Progresivnaya Partiya''), led by Georgy Lvov. *1917: Most of the party merged into the ⇒ Constitutional Democratic Party, some continued as the Radical Democratic Party (''Radikal'no-Demokraticheskaya Partiya'').

List of various liberal leaders

, A prominent leader of the Kadets who played a crucial role in advocating for civil rights and constitutional governance. ** Georgy Lvov **

, A philosopher and legal scholar whose ideas contributed significantly to Russian liberal theory. *:

Andrei Sakharov Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov (; 21 May 192114 December 1989) was a Soviet Physics, physicist and a List of Nobel Peace Prize laureates, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, which he was awarded in 1975 for emphasizing human rights around the world. Alt ...

, A notable dissident and human rights activist who championed civil liberties during the Soviet era. ** Gavril Popov, 1st

Mayor of Moscow The Mayor of Moscow () is the head and the highest-ranking official of Moscow, who leads the Government of Moscow, the main executive body of the city. Moscow is both a city and separate federal subject, according to the Constitution of ...

from 1991 to 1992. **

Grigory Yavlinsky Grigory Alekseyevich Yavlinsky (; born 10 April 1952) is a Russian economist and politician. He has held numerous positions in the Soviet and Russian governments across different levels, including in the State Duma. Yavlinsky was one of auth ...

Deputy Premier of the Soviet Union This is a list of all deputy premiers of the Soviet Union. List Deputy chairman of the Council of People's Commissars * Lev Kamenev (July 6, 1923 - January 16, 1926) * Alexei Rykov (July 6, 1923 - February 2, 1924) * Alexander Tsiurupa (Jul ...

in 1991, leader of

social-liberal Social liberalism is a political philosophy and variety of liberalism that endorses social justice, social services, a mixed economy, and the expansion of civil and political rights, as opposed to classical liberalism which favors limited ...

after its dissolution *:

, Deputy Prime Minister from 1997 to 1998, one of the most prominent critics of Vladmir Putin's regime, leader of

. **

Alexei Navalny Alexei Anatolyevich Navalny (, ; 4 June 197616 February 2024) was a Russian Opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia, opposition leader, anti-corruption in Russia, corruption activist and political prisoner. He founded the Anti-Corruption Found ...

, An outspoken critic of Putin following the death of Boris Nemtsov. ** Leonid Volkov, Navalny's assistant and current exiled leader of

Russia of the Future Russia of the Future (, ), originally known as the People's Alliance () and formerly called the Progress Party (), is a banned opposition political party in Russia founded on 15 December 2012 by Leonid Volkov and later refounded on 19 May 2018 ...

who lives in exile since 2022.

Conclusion

Liberalism Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality, the right to private property, and equality before the law. ...

in Russia has undergone significant transformations from its early roots to contemporary challenges. While it has faced considerable obstacles from authoritarian regimes, it remains an essential part of Russia's political discourse. The ongoing struggle for

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' political freedom, freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and ...

, democratic governance, and economic freedom continues to define the trajectory of liberal movements within the country.

References

{{Liberalism in Europe

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Political movements in Russia