Great Russia (political party)
Great Russia is a Russian far-right ultra-nationalist political party that has been associated with neo-Nazism. It was established in April 2007 by former Rodina leader and legislator Dmitry Rogozin in conjunction with the prohibited xenophobic Movement Against Illegal Immigration, the Congress of Russian Communities and former members of the Rodina party which won 9% of the vote at the 2003 Russian Parliamentary elections. The current Chairman of the party is Andrei Saveliyev.
The colours of the party are the orange and yellow of the Amur tiger. According to Dmitry Rogozin, he came up with the idea of using the tiger as the party's logo upon learning that the animal's population had increased in 2006 for the first time in recorded history. Rogozin has stated "I believe that the Amur tiger will become a competitor to the blue bear", referring to the symbol of United Russia, a white bear on a blue background.
Great Russia has initially stated it supports Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's candidacy for President of Russia in 2008, a candidacy which is impossible as Lukashenko is not a Russian citizen. Rogozin has also stated that the party will contest seats in the December elections to the State Duma. Rogozin estimated that the party would obtain twenty five percent of the vote in the election, and opinion polls suggested the party had a good chance of crossing the seven percent threshold for representation in the Duma.
On 24 July 2007 Great Russia was denied registration by the Federal Registration Service. The Secretary of the party's ruling council, Sergei Pykhtin, said the party would either appeal the decision or submit new paperwork in an attempt to be registered. However, the party was unsuccessful and so did not contest the 2007 Russian legislative election.
