MOSCOW, October 27 (Itar-Tass) — The Civic Platform party, which was founded on the initiative of entrepreneur Mikhail Prokhorov, has created a civic federal committee, which will involve members of the party’s political committee and civil society activists.
The party’s civic federal committee involves co-chairman of the Republic Party of Russia – People’s Freedom Party Vladimir Ryzhkov, musician Andrei Makarevich and pop singer Alla Pugacheva, and City Without Drugs Fund mananger Yevgeny Roizman.
The congress approved the structure of the committee, which includes federal and regional committees. The civic committees will comprise independent public leaders who share views of the Civic Platform party.
Totally the federal civic committee has involved 17 people – famous figures of culture, society activists and entrepreneurs.
Among their members are Togliatti Mayor Sergei Andreyev, Yaroslavl head Yevgeny Urlashov, lawyer Mikhail Barshchevsky, journalist Stanislav Kucher, public figure Irina Prokhorova, sister of the party’s founder, founder and chief doctor of Intermedcenter Alexander Myasnikov, director general of the All Russian State Library for Foreign Literature Yekaterina Geniyeva, TNK-BP CEO Mikhail Slobodin, civil society activist Yelizaveta Glinka (known as doctor Liza), Optogan Company head Maxim Odnolyubov, actor Leonid Yarmolnik, Lenzoloto CEO Yevgeny Ivanov and chairman of the AgroInvest board of directors Zorigto Sakhanov.
Prokhorov said he intended to seriously deal with politics. “I’ve become a member of the Civic Platform party,” the entrepreneur said.
In compliance with the party’s structure the party will have a political committee. Prokhorov made it clear that he was ready to chair the political committee. At the same time, he said, “This is not the question to me, but to the political committee.”
He also said he intended to leave his business. “I’ve signed the declaration of trust under which my partners [ONEXIM Group] will occupy assets,” he explained.
According to Prokhorov, the party will exist on membership dues and contributions.
He said the Civic Platform party would be opened for cooperation with all political forces, with the exception of nationalist ones. Prokhorov said he did not intend “to divide the country into the Reds and the Whites, into the Kremlin and the Bolotnaya”.
“I’m the third force if you prefer,” he added.
In order to work out “positive consensus for citizens” the Civic Platform party is ready to cooperation with the ruling party, with the Communists, and even with Vladimir Zhirinovsky and the opposition coordination council. “I want the third force to be interpreted as a force, which will be able to hear others. Our party is named the platform. And our platform is for agreements,” Prokhorov said.
Speaking at the congress, Pugacheva said, “People lack not only the faith in God but also the faith in a human being.” “I’m simply needed an honest person who I can trust to,” the pop singer said.
Pugacheva said she is hopeful that “the train, which will run from this platform, will lead to love”.
For his part, Kucher said Prokhorov proposed him to take the lead of the New Russia Institute, which should become “a nerve centre” of the Civic Platform party. Kucher said he would try to do his best “to increase the number of professionals who will be not indifferent towards the country’s fate”.