Russian Bloc Руський блок Русский блок | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Gennady Basov[1] |
| Founded | March 2001 |
| Banned | 17 June 2014 |
| Ideology | Russification Pan-Slavism Federation withRussia |
| Website | |
| rusblok.net (defunct) | |
Russian Bloc (Ukrainian:Руський блок,romanized: Ruskyi blok;Russian:Русский блок,romanized: Russky blok) is a currently (since 13 May 2014) bannedpolitical party inUkraine that was registered in March 2001.[1][2]
The party associates itself with theRussian Federation and employs the Russian tricolor. It promotes the idea of a united, Pan-East-Slavic state. The former name of the party is the PartyFor One Rus' (Ukrainian:За Русь єдину,Russian: За Русь единую).[2]
The history of the party began with the creation in June 1999 of the "Russian Movement of Ukraine".[1] It was formally registered as a political party in March 2001[1] under the name "For One Rus".[2]
During the2002 Ukrainian parliamentary election the party (still called "For One Rus'") was part of theRussian Bloc that got 0.73% of the votes and no seats.[2] It did not participate in National elections until 2012.[2] In theVerkhovna Rada of Crimea the party was represented after the2006 Crimean parliamentary election as it is part of theCrimeanpolitical alliance "For Yanukovych!" with theParty of Regions.[3] In the2010 Crimean parliamentary election the Party of Regions and the Russian Bloc run separately.[4][5] During this election the party won representatives in municipalities and did particularly well inSevastopol.[6] In the2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election the party won 0.31% of the national votes and noconstituencies (it had competed in 10 constituencies[7]) and thus failed to win parliamentary representation.[8] The parties best results were in constituency 233 (inSevastopol) with 27.80%, constituency 223 (inKyiv) with 8.22% and in constituency 43 (inDonetsk) with 4.23% of the votes.[7]
TheMinistry of Justice of Ukraine filed a lawsuit at the District Administrative Court inKyiv for the ban of activities of the party (and also for a ban on the partyRussian Unity) on 23 April 2014.[9] On 20 March 2014 inOdesa local party leader Valery Kaurov was arrested on suspicion ofseparatism during the2014 pro-Russian conflict in Ukraine.[9]
On 13 May 2014 the District Administrative Court in Kyiv banned the party "in connection with calls to overthrow the constitutional order and the violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine".[1] The party appealed the sentence, but on 17 June 2014 theKyiv Court of Appeals confirmed the decision and terminated the party.[10]