Name • :
A Just Russia: Motherland/Pensioners/Life () • :
A Just Russia () • :
Socialist Political Party "A Just Russia – Patriots – For Truth" () • since :
Socialist Political Party "A Just Russia" ()
Establishment On 26 March 2006, the deputy head of the presidential administration,
Vladislav Surkov, met with
Sergey Mironov, then the party leader of the
Party of Life, and 30 deputies from the party, where Surkov formulated the idea of building a two-party system in the country, in which the Kremlin could rely on one of two parties, the other being the ruling party,
United Russia. Surkov stated: "Society has no 'second leg' to step on when the first one is numb. In Russia, a second large party is needed". Surkov suggested that the role of the "main leg" would be left to United Russia for the near future. In the meeting, Surkov also noted that in the
2003 legislative elections, United Russia received about 37% of the vote, which was about the same as the next three parties, the
Communist Party, the
Liberal Democratic Party, and
Rodina, and said that ideally, the "second leg" should have the same level of electoral support as the three parties. According to researcher Luke March, a second party of power would incentivize United Russia to perform well, or strong performance for A Just Russia would have "Putin's influence spread all over the political field", quoting political commentator
Sergei Markov. Mironov was elected the unified party's chairman while Rodina's former chairman
Alexander Babakov became the secretary of the central council presidium and the leader of the Party of Pensioners
Igor Zotov became secretary of the political council. The next year, A Just Russia expanded further, absorbing three additional small parties in 2007, namely the
People's Party, the
Party of Entrepreneurship Development and the
Party of Constitutional Democrats. saying that "if United Russia is the party of power, we will become the party of the people".
First election successes served as the party's chairman in 2006–2011 while also holding the position of the
Federation Council chairman Shortly after its creation, A Just Russia participated in its first elections when the party's candidate won the mayoral race in
Samara. The March 2007 regional elections were dominated by United Russia, but A Just Russia also put up a strong performance. In particular, the new party won a majority in the regional parliament in
Stavropol Krai. The emergence of A Just Russia changed Russia's political landscape and demonstrated that the country's leadership had been split between two parties. United Russia supporters in the presidential administration grew wary of the challenge posed by A Just Russia, worrying that United Russia would lose its position as "the president's party". Before the
2007 Duma elections, the Kremlin had withdrawn its support of A Just Russia and threw its weight entirely behind United Russia. In May 2007, A Just Russia's chairman
Sergey Mironov proposed a merger between his party and the
Communist Party of the Russian Federation in order to create a new unified
socialist party.
2007 Duma elections in November 2007, one month before the
Duma elections in which the party received 16% of the votes from the city In the run-up to the December
2007 Duma elections, President
Vladimir Putin – the country's most popular politician – explicitly and unequivocally endorsed the
United Russia party and decided to head its national list. Putin's decision significantly changed the election campaign and resulted in a massive boost to United Russia's popularity. This represented a harsh blow to A Just Russia which also had hoped to ride on Putin's popularity. Polls suggested the party could have difficulties crossing the 7% election threshold. A Just Russia appointed three persons to its national list, namely chairman
Sergey Mironov;
Svetlana Goryacheva (a former member of the
Communist Party of the Russian Federation); and
Sergey Shargunov, a 27-year-old fiction author. In its regional lists, A Just Russia had 553 candidates, taking its total number of candidates to 556. This was more than the Communists (515), but less than United Russia (600). Although originally positioned as a
centre-left party, under Mironov's leadership A Just Russia campaigned as a socialist alternative to the Communists. The party received its highest share of votes in
Astrakhan (20%),
Saint Petersburg (16%) and
Stavropol (13%). In Saint Petersburg, the hometown of chairman Mironov, A Just Russia became the second largest party. Mironov said he would not take up his seat in the Duma himself, but instead continue as the Chairman of the
Federation Council. A Just Russia's performance in the elections was a slight disappointment, especially since one of its predecessor parties,
Rodina, had won 9% of the votes in the
2003 elections. On 25 April 2008, A Just Russia held its third annual congress, where the party expelled thousands of members who were not aware that they were members. The party's charter was amended at the congress to make mergers easier. The congress also disbanded the party's
politburo and transferred its functions to the Central Council. Politburo's chairman
Nikolai Levichev, who also heads A Just Russia's faction in the
State Duma, was elected as the council's first secretary. During its XXIII Congress On 30 June 2008, A Just Russia was accepted into the
Socialist International, the worldwide organisation of social-democratic political parties. In the 2007–2011 State Duma, A Just Russia became a strong supporter of the
Medvedev modernisation programme, endorsing President
Dmitry Medvedev's view that Russia must move towards a diversified
post-industrial economy and democratisation of its political system. A Just Russia also advocated restoration of direct gubernatorial elections and lowering the Duma election threshold from 7% to 3%. A Just Russia voted against Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin's anti-crisis plan in April 2009 and also voted against the governments budgets in 2010 and 2011. According to researcher Luke March, in the
2007–2011 Duma A Just Russia clearly moved towards Medvedev. The party has declared absolute opposition to Putin's government while remaining supportive of Medvedev. On 2 February 2010, Mironov told talk show host
Vladimir Pozner Jr. that "to say that we support Vladimir Putin in everything and personally is already outdated information", noting that the party "categorically opposed" Putin's budget. A scandal broke out with the ruling party, leading to A Just Russia and United Russia to sign a political agreement to jointly support Putin and Medvedev on certain strategic issues and agreeing to discuss disagreements between them. However, A Just Russia withdrew from the agreement a month later, with Mironov accusing United Russia of violating the agreement. At the party congress on 16 April 2011,
Nikolai Levichev was elected party leader after Mironov was removed from the position. In May 2011, Mironov was removed from his position of
Chairman of the Federation Council.
2011 Duma elections In the
2011 legislative elections, the party received 13% of the vote, extending its number of seats to 64. Following reports of
electoral fraud at the election, party members joined in
post-election protests against the results. Senior party members took part in demonstrations at
Bolotnaya Square on 10 December, among them Gudkov and
Oksana Dmitriyeva. According to election results, Mironov came in last place, with 3.85% of the vote.
Post-election On 22 May 2012, during a State Duma session where a bill was being considered to increase fines for those who violated protest laws, Mironov wore a
white ribbon, a symbol that was being used by the anti-Kremlin opposition in
protests against Putin's re-election, and the party remained silent in the discussion of the bill as a sign of protest. Mironov stated that the party "fundamentally disagrees with the content of the bill". On 27 October 2012, Mironov called on members to stop wearing the white ribbon, the day after a United Russia deputy,
Aleksandr Sidyakin, branded deputies who wore it as "traitors" and stomped on a white ribbon. Mironov urged members to distance themselves from the opposition, claiming that the rallies turned into a "political sect". He also threatened to expel
Ilya Ponomaryov and Gudkov from the party for joining the opposition's
Coordination Council. Ponomaryov and Gudkov were also among the deputies who were branded as traitors by Sidyakin. From 2012, members of the party who actively took part in protests left or were expelled from the party, including Gudkov and Ponomaryov. Dmitriyeva also distanced herself from the party.
2018 presidential election In December 2017, Mironov outlined the party's new tasks, choosing not to participate in the
2018 presidential election due to his unwillingness to fight "for second place". Instead, the party would endorse Putin and work to limit the influence of United Russia on the agenda of Putin. Mironov stated that A Just Russia was, is, and will be in opposition to United Russia, but that it could not be "in opposition to Russia herself". Mironov also proposed "to honestly tell voters" that there was no "worthy alternative" to Putin.
RBC reported that, according to sources close to the party's leadership, Mironov's unwillingness to participate in the election was due to fatigue and financial difficulties. . The sides read:
"There will be changes!" 2021 Duma elections Ahead of the
2021 legislative elections, A Just Russia merged with the parties
Patriots of Russia and
For Truth in January 2021, forming A Just Russia – Patriots – For Truth. Mironov remained party leader, and according to their unification manifesto, the party would run on "12 principles of truth, patriotism and justice", including "strengthening the role of the state in the economy, developing a progressive taxation scale, toughening punishments for corruption, increasing the minimum wage, pensions and social benefits, phasing out of the high school state exams and budget decentralization". The party also reportedly planned to come in second place in the election, after United Russia, but eventually came third, after United Russia and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. In July 2022, the leader of the
Communist Party of the Russian Federation,
Gennady Zyuganov proposed a merging with A Just Russia – For Truth, but only if that party adopted the Communist programme. The day before, the leader of the A Just Russia
Sergey Mironov said that he "does not see any obstacles to the creation in Russia of a large coalition of left-wing patriotic forces". At its annual congress on 25 October 2025, A Just Russia – For Truth reverted to its pre-2021 name, A Just Russia. One of the reasons for the return was the de facto retreat of the former leaders of
Patriots of Russia and
For Truth from the party's leadership in recent years:
Gennady Semigin resigned in 2024, and
Zakhar Prilepin barely participated in the party leadership. Furthermore, Mironov stated that the acronym SRPZP offended him, "while everyone knows A Just Russia." The position of co-chairs, created in 2021 for Semigin and Prilepin, was abolished, as well as Semigin's and Prilepin's positions of Chairman of the Central Council and Secretary of the Chamber of Deputies. In their place, the positions of first deputy chairman of the party were created, with
Alexander Babakov appointed, and two ordinary deputy chairmen, with
Ruslan Tatarinov and
Zakhar Prilepin appointed. Sergei Mironov was unanimously re-elected chairman. == Membership ==