RPR-PARNAS party may split because of internal disagreements – statement

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MOSCOW. Dec 30 (Interfax) – The Republican Party of Russia-PARNAS (RPR-PARNAS) may split up in the near future, says a statement made by some members of the RPR political board on Monday.

“If we cannot consolidate the three components of the party, the issue of RPR’s restoration in its classical shape as a liberal, democratic, opposition, responsible and professional party leaning primarily on the regions will be brought up,” the statement says. The crisis has been brewing inside RPR-PARNAS since the summer of 2012, the statement says.

“RPR-PARNAS’s activity in its current shape does not meet our idea of the role and objectives of an opposition party in modern Russia. Our partners’ political ends and methods of work have recently dramatically diverged from our political ends and our methods of work,” it said.

The three years of common work have shown that “it is practically impossible to work out a common political program, a common image of the party in society’s eyes and a common strategy and tactic of the party,” it says.

The statement has been signed by nine RPR members, among them Vladimir Zolotukhin representing the Moscow organization, Alexei Reshetov from St. Petersburg, Vitaly Pavlov from Saratov, Alexander Berestnev from Tula and others.

RPR-PARNAS was formed through the unification of the Republican Party of Russia and the unregistered PARNAS party. Its co-chairmen are Vladimir Ryzhkov (RPR), Mikhail Kasyanov, and Boris Nemtsov (PARNAS).

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