Former Russian President and Owner of Noveya Gazetta to Form New Political Party

Former Russian president Mikhail Gorbachev is planning on creating a new political party in Russia with fellow Novaya Gazeta owner Alexander Lebedev. Moscow News reports that Gorbachev may be motivated to form the Independent Democratic Party as a reaction to his concerns about steps the current government may be moving away from democracy. In the same Article Lebedev is quoted as suggesting that some of the major concerns of the party would be a stronger parliament, independent courts, independent media, and smaller state involvement in the economy. It is speculated that the new party was Gorbachev’s idea and that he might take a leadership role in it. In his article Richard Lourie of The Moscow Times suggests Gorbachev’s involvement may in fact help the sustainability of the party due to the fact that he isn’t entirely popular in Russia (only won 1 percent of the vote in the last election he ran in) which might cause the Kremlin to ignore him as a serious threat. Lourie also suggest that Gorbechev’s popularity abroad might help to insulate him from more violent attempts to quell possible competion. This article goes on to mention that party’s first involvement in the political arena will be in the 2011 Duma elections and even if they do not have a productive initial showing in that election it sill shows much promise as it can still serve as a home grown example of what democracy should be for the Russian people. This issue is related to the cause of media freedom in Russia in an striking manner as Gorbachev and Lebedev are owners of the Novaya Gazeta an independent newspaper which was where controversial and independent reporter Anna Politkovskaya worked before her suspicious murder in 2006.

By Peter Snyder

Gorbachev to form political party in Russia
Gorbachev's Gallant Example