Civilian Power

"Free Russia" redirects here. For paramilitary unit, see Freedom of Russia Legion.

The Civilian Power or Citizens' Force (Russian: Гражданская сила, romanized: Grazhdanskaya sila, abbr. ГС, GS) is a green political party in the Russian Federation. The organization was called the Network Party for Support of the Small and Middle Business in 2002, then renamed Free Russia in 2004, and in February 2007 changed to Civilian Power.

Civilian Power Гражданская сила
Leader	Kirill Bykanin
Founder	Alexander Ryavkin
Founded	20 September 2002 (2002-09-20) 25 February 2012 (2012-02-25) (re-foundation)
Dissolved	15 November 2008 (2008-11-15)
Merged into	Right Cause (2008-2012)
Headquarters	32th building, Studenyy Passage Moscow, Russia. 127224
Ideology	Green politics
Colours	Green   Yellow
Seats in the State Duma	0 / 450
Seats in the Regional Parliaments	0 / 3,994
Website
gr-sila.ru
Politics of Russia Political parties Elections

Members of the political council include:

• Mikhail Barshchevsky
• Valdis Pelsh
• Tatyana Ustinova
• Maxim Kononenko
• Eduard Uspensky

The Party's names

• Network Party for Support of the Small and Middle Business (RSP, 2002–2004)
• Free Russia Party (PSR, 2004—2007)
• Civilian Power (GS, 2007—2008)
• All-Russian Public Organization "Civilian Forces" (OOO GS, 2008—2012)
• Civilian Power (GS, 2012—)

History

Logo of the Free Russia Party (2004-2007)

The "Free Russia" party was created in 2004, based on small and medium-sized Russian businesses. On October 8, 2006, the party overtook the 7% barrier on the legislative elections in Novgorod District. In November 2006, the 6th party conference was held. On February 27, 2007, Mikhail Barshchevsky, the chairman and plenipotentiary of the High Council of the Russian government, held a press conference. This was in aid of the party principles of Civilian Power. In the middle of April 2007, an organizational conference was held.

The chairman of the High Council is plenipotentiary of the Government of Russia in Constitutional, Supreme and Highest Arbitral Courts Mikhail Barshchevsky (a member since December 2006). The chairman of the Federal Political Council − The founder of the party, businessman Alexander Ryavkin from 2014 - 2015 year was the vice governor of the Oryol region.

The party won 1.05% of votes in the 2007 elections, not breaking the 7% barrier, and thus no seats in duma.

Civilian Power supported Dmitri Medvedev as their candidate in the presidential election in 2008.

It merged with Union of Right Forces and the Democratic Party of Russia to form the Right Cause on 16 November 2008.

Civilian Power was again registered as a political party on 7 June 2012.

The party advocates the legalization of prostitution in Russia.

In the elections of 2014, the party won one seat in the regional parliament Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

Electoral results

In 2017, the Party announced that the only candidate whom the party will support is current president Vladimir Putin. for the 2018 Russian presidential election.

Presidential elections

Election	Candidate	First round		Second round		Result
		Votes	%	Votes	%
2008	Endorsed Dmitry Medvedev	52,530,712	70.28%	—		Elected Y
2012	Party was part of Right Cause and did not participate in the elections
2018	Endorsed Vladimir Putin	56,430,712	76.69%	—		Elected Y

Legislative elections

Election	Party leader	Performance					Rank	Government
		Votes	%	± pp	Seats	+/–
2007	Mikhail Barshchevsky	733,604	1.05%	New	0 / 450	New	7th	Extra-parliamentary
2011	Valeriy Ivanovsky	Party was part of Right Cause and did not participate in the elections
2016	Kirill Bykanin	73,971	0.14%	0.14	0 / 450	0	14th	Extra-parliamentary

External links

• Civilian Power, official site (in Russian)