National-Patriotic Forces of the Russian Federation

(NPSRF)

   Political party. Established in 2001, the National-Patriotic Forces of the Russian Federation (Natsional’ nopatrioticheskie sily Rossiiskoi federatsii) grew out of the Assembly of National-Democratic and Patriotic Forces, a movement dating to the mid-1990s. Although strongly leftist in its orientation, the party does embrace the role of an opposition party and avers its patriotism. The NPSRF is led by Shmidt Dzoblayev. The party platform supports friendship and equity of all peoples of the Russian Federation, consolidation of public and political forces in order to maintain the country’s security and territorial integrity, and improved interethnic relations. The party strongly supported Vladimir Putin’s attempt to create a vertical of power to weaken asymmetrical federalism and protect the country from terrorism. The National-Patriotic Forces are avowedly antiliberal, condemning center-right parties’ economic policies as debilitating and against Russia’s national interest. Normative in its approach to governance, the party hopes to purge the Russian political system of corrupt and incompetent officials. Evoking shades of neo-Eurasianism, the NPSRF aims to use Russia’s mineral wealth and geopolitical location to put an end to the country’s purported subservience to the West. Support for Russia’s scientific and educational development also figure highly in the party’s ideology. In 2004, the party joined a coalition of nine other nationalist, left-wing parties called the People’s Patriotic Union of Russia. The party did not register significant support in either the 2003 or 2007 parliamentary elections.