#5 - JRL 6597
Parties of Russia's liberal right agree to hold united congress
Interfax

Moscow, 10 December: Members of right-wing and liberal political parties have agreed to establish a democratic congress in the future.

An Interfax correspondent reports that a working group in charge of setting up a congress of democratic forces held a session in the Andrey Sakharov public centre on Tuesday [10 December]. The event was initiated by the Liberal Russia party.

Deputy Sergey Yushenkov of Liberal Russia, Aleksandr Kotyusov of the Union of Right Forces [SPS] party, Democratic Union leader Valeriya Novodvorskaya, and leaders of other movements and parties were present at the session.

The participants decided to hold the first session of the united democratic congress in mid-March.

They called on Moscow mayor Yuriy Luzhkov and the city's legislature to fulfil the Moscow Council's ruling of 17 December 1990 to erect a monument to Andrey Sakharov.

"The democratic congress will focus on adopting a common political platform, acting as a united front during upcoming State Duma elections and nominating a single presidential candidate."