Congress of Russian Communities

The Congress of Russian Communities (CRC, Russian: Конгресс русских общин, КРО, romanized: Kongress russkikh obschin, KRO) is a political organization in Russia. It was created in the early 1990s initially to promote the rights of ethnic Russians living in the newly independent countries of the former Soviet Union.

RODINA — Congress of Russian Communities РОДИНА — Конгресс русских общин
Abbreviation	CRC (English) KRO (Russian)
Leader	Dmitry Rogozin
Chairman	Aleksey Zhuravlyov
Founders	Dmitry Rogozin Alexander Lebed Yury Skokov
Founded	February 1992 (1992-02) (as Congress of Russian Communities) 9 December 2006 (2006-12-09) (refoundation)
Merged into	Rodina (2004–2006), (2012-)
Headquarters	Moscow, Russia
Ideology	Pan-Russianism National conservatism Traditionalism Anti-Americanism
Political position	Right-wing to far-right
Colours	Gold   Black Before 2004:   White   Blue   Red
Website
www.kro-rodina.ru www.kro.su
Politics of Russia Political parties Elections

Logo of the CRC before 2004

The group contested a number of elections to the Duma in the 1990s. In the 1995 Duma election, the group took 4.3% of the vote, just missing the 5% threshold to gain seats. In 1999 it again failed to pass the 5% threshold, although KRO candidates did win a small number of single-mandate district seats.

In 1996 Alexander Lebed used the KRO as the organisational vehicle for his campaign for the presidency. Lebed was surprisingly successful, taking 15% of the popular vote and later going on to become governor of Krasnoyarsk Krai.

In 2006 the KRO was revived by Russian nationalist politician Dmitry Rogozin following the merger of his Rodina party into a new Fair Russia coalition. Rogozin initially stated that he would turn the KRO into a political party to contest the Duma elections in December 2007.

In April 2007 Rogozin announced that he had formed a new party, the Great Russia Party, in conjunction with the nationalist Movement Against Illegal Immigration. The party would campaign for seats in the Duma and initially stated its support for Alexander Lukashenko's candidacy for the Russian Presidency, a campaign which is impossible as Lukashenko is not a Russian citizen.

Restoration

On December 9, 2006, the restoration congress of the Russian communities under the new name “ Rodina (“Motherland”): Congress of Russian Communities” was held; Dmitry Rogozin is not officially included in its leadership, but he is an informal leader.

On September 21, 2011, with the participation of Dmitry Rogozin, the constituent congress of the Motherland-Congress of Russian Communities movement was held, at which the organizing committee for the restoration of the Rodina party was established. Dmitry Rogozin accused the leader of the party A Just Russia Sergey Mironov on raider seizure of the Rodina party. At the congress, Dmitry Rogozin called the Russian Communities Congress to become part of the All-Russian People's Front, created in support of presidential candidate Vladimir Putin.

In 2011, the Ministry of Justice officially registered the Congress of Russian Communities.

In April 2012, the organizing committee "Rodina Congress of Russian Communities" submitted to the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation a note on the restoration of the political party "Rodina".

Electoral results

Presidential elections

Election	Candidate	First round		Second round		Result
		Votes	%	Votes	%
1996	Alexander Lebed	10,974,736	14.52%			Lost N
2000	Endorsed Vladimir Putin	39,740,434	52.94%			Elected Y
2004	Party was part of Rodina/A Just Russia and did not participate in the elections
2008
2012
2018	Endorsed Vladimir Putin	56,430,712	76.69%			Elected Y

Legislative elections

Election	Party leader	Performance					Rank	Government
		Votes	%	± pp	Seats	+/–
1995	Yury Skokov	7,737,431	4.31%	New	5 / 450	New	8th	Minority
1999	Dmitry Rogozin	405,298	0.61%	5.20	0 / 450	5	12th	Minority
2003	Sergey Glazyev (NPS Rodina)	5,470,429	9.02%	New	38 / 450	New	4th	Minority
2007	Dmitry Rogozin	Did not participate
2011
2016	Aleksey Zhuravlyov (Rodina)	792,226	1.51%	1.51	1 / 450	1	8th	Support