Another Coalition Formed by Russian Oppositionists

Less than a week after a group of prominent Russian opposition leaders announced the creation of a new political coalition, a second group of opposition politicians and activist leaders are announcing their own.

Sergei Udaltsov of the Left Front and Russian United Labor Front opposition movements told Kasparov.ru that a group of oppositionists, long forced to operate outside of Russia’s political system, decided at a meeting on September 21 to unite as a coalition under the name of the Russian Opposition.

Aside from Udaltsov, activists at the meeting included Anatoly Baranov, Eduard Limonov of the Other Russia, and Mikhail Delyagin of Rodina: Common Sense.

In the coming days, the coalition is expected to release a statement regarding the Russian government’s routine refusal to officially register opposition political parties, which prevents them from taking part in elections.

The Russian Ministry of Justice denied the Russian United Labor Front registration this past July, citing technical reasons. Udaltsov maintains that the refusal was completely unfounded and that the mentioned technicalities do not correspond to legislation governing political parties.