Russia (fraction)

The deputy group "Russia" was created in early 1995, bringing together 35 deputies, including 12 from the NPP group, five from the PRES , four from the "Choice of Russia" , two from the APR and the Union of December 12 , one of the DPR and 9 independent. The chairman was Igor Shichanin (elected from the PRES list), the press secretary was Igor Pankov . The creators of the group declared a pro-presidential and pro-government orientation, actively cooperating with the Chairman of the State Duma Ivan Rybkin , who by that time had actually actually sided with the authorities.

The group was registered at a meeting of the Committee on the organization of work of the State Duma on March 24, 1995, but the Committee’s decision to register the group was signed only a few days later and was published only in early April. The membership of the deputies in the group in the sector of the preparation of transcripts began to be indicated starting from April 5 (the first plenary meeting after March 24). Starting from April 7, the group began to receive a word on the agenda, that is, it was fully recognized as existing. The Rossiya Group did not for a long time announce its leadership, did not hold press conferences, and rarely met. The results of many roll-call votes showed that the group did not have a unified position on significant issues.

Despite the declared pro-presidential and pro-government orientation, the group was not a monolithic political force and its members held different positions in the roll-call vote. For example, in the spring of 1995, there was a conflict between the President and the State Duma over the law on the election of deputies. While the majority of the deputies were going to maintain the previous relationship between the deputies elected by party lists and single-mandate constituencies , the President proposed electing 300 deputies by constituencies and 150 by lists. On May 11, 15 deputies from the Russia group voted in favor of overcoming the presidential veto on the new Duma election law, against - 6, 15 did not vote. The NPP and Stability groups issued a joint statement in which they called for the complete replacement of the proportional election system by a majority system , while at the same time agreeing with the President’s proposal as a compromise. The statement was signed by I. Shichanin on behalf of the Russia group, which, however, was later deleted. On May 24, during a discussion in the State Duma, I. Shichanin, speaking on behalf of the group, behaved fairly modestly, emphasizing that most of the members of his group opposed the presidential amendments and suggested that the President's veto not be overcome, but created a conciliation commission.

In the spring of 1995, the authorities began to implement the plan for the creation of two parties in power, the center-right movement Our Home - Russia , headed by Prime Minister Chernomyrdin, and the center-left bloc, headed by State Duma Chairman I. Rybkin ^[1] . According to this plan, the Stability group was assigned to the Chernomyrdin bloc, and Russia to the future Rybkin bloc. Such a noticeable difference in weight categories caused an outflow of deputies from "Russia" to "Stability". The minimum required group size of 35 deputies had to be supported by luring members from other factions and groups, primarily from the PRES faction.

In May 1995, on the eve of the December State Duma elections, some of the members of the Russia group formed the Social and Political Association People’s Movement - Russia, headed by I. Shichanin. Later, the association became one of the founders of the Block Ivan Rybkin .

On June 21, 1995, the State Duma discussed the issue of mistrust in the Government. The chairman of "Russia" I. Shichanin said that the group decided not to vote. In fact, about half of the group members took part in the vote. 9 deputies ( Victor Berestovoy , Vladimir Goman , Evgeny Gusarov , Valery Kirpichnikov , Peter Matyashov , Igor Muravyov , Anatoly Popov , Vladimir Utkin and Sergey Shulgin ) voted for distrust of the Government, Nina Volkova abstained, 6 deputies voted against. On July 1, I. Shichanin said that the group would not vote for distrust, since the main condition of the deputies, the resignation of power ministers, was fulfilled. As a result, two deputies (I. Muravyov and V. Utkin) voted for distrust, Alexander Piskunov abstained, another 13 deputies opposed the announcement of a vote of no confidence.

On July 12, 1995, 32 members of the Rossiya group did not vote on the creation of a special commission to bring charges against the President, 3 deputies (P. Matyashov, A. Piskunov and Zifkat Sayetgaliyev ) spoke in favor of creating the commission, and 1 ( Vladimir Ryzhkov ).

On October 13, 1995, during the first reading of the draft budget for 1996, 4 deputies voted for 4 proposals for the proposal of the Budget Committee (to transfer the draft submitted by the government to the conciliation commission without mentioning the rejection) and for the proposal “Yabloko” (reject with transfer to the conciliation commission) , including 1 deputy - for both options. On October 18, 13 deputies voted for the adoption of the budget in the first reading, the majority supported the transfer of the budget to the conciliation commission. On November 15, the group supported the draft budget in the first reading in the original wording and in the wording of Zadornov, but in the final version (Lapshin-Chubais) only 14 deputies voted for the budget. On December 6, the group supported the budget in the second and third readings.

In the elections of the State Duma of the second convocation on December 17, 1995, the Popular Movement - Russia, took part in the Ivan Rybkin Bloc. I. Shichanin was included in the first dozen federal block lists. However, the block failed to overcome the five percent barrier. 6 members of the last group of the "Russia" managed to achieve re-election. V. Ryzhkov (elected from the list of the “ NDR ” movement) and A. Golovkov (independent candidate) joined the NDR faction; V. Goman and V. Medikov (independent) joined the “Regions of Russia” group , Z. Sayetgaliev (elected in the district from the APR) became a member of the Agrarian Group , and V. Utkin (in the district from the KRO ) of the “Democracy” group .

List of deputy associations

• The deputy group "Russia" in the State Duma of the first convocation (1994-1995)
• The voting results of the deputy group "Russia" on issues submitted for open voting for the period from January 11, 1994 to January 15, 1996 .