The article examines the participation of extreme right-wing political forces in Russia in the 1999 State Duma election campaign. In the context of an unstable socioeconomic and political situation, radical politicians seemed to have a chance to actively enter the public sphere. The main extreme right-wing organization at that time was the “Russian National Unity” led by A.P. Barkashov. At the same time, RNU did not have an official registration and was in conflict with Moscow authorities and the Ministry of Justice. Because of this, it took part in the elections unofficially, as part of the Spas movement. This political force was created by former members of the LDPR, apparently dissatisfied with the insufficient radicalism of V.V. Zhirinovsky on the national issue. The registration of this movement
by the Central Election Commission led to a significant scandal and the removal of Spas from the elections. The main media of that era assessed the registration of nationalists as a sign of the authorities weakness, unable to put a barrier in the way of political extremism, and welcomed the final decision to liquidate the Spas movement and its withdrawal from the election race. At the same time, the second extreme right participant in the elections, the Russian Cause bloc, managed to stay practically unnoticed by both the public and the authorities. A well-known politician A. V. Korzhakov refused to head the bloc's election list. The result of participation in the elections was also logical — 0,17 %. Thus, one can conclude that the ultra-right forces in Russia in 1999 were quite weak and unable to be represented in federal government bodies. Another conclusion is that both public at large and the authorities disagreed sharply with the attempts of such forces to enter the sphere of public policy.
For citation: Kishchenkov M.S. Participation of ultra-right political parties and movements in the 1999 parliamentary elections in the Russian Federation: the course of the election campaign and results, Ivanovo State University Bulletin. Series: Humanities, 2025, iss. 3, pp. 144—153.