From: Dmitry Petrov

Subject: Party Law

Dear friends:

As you may be know, Russian Radicals are involved now in the campaign aimed on preventing the reactionary "Political Parties" draftlaw to be accepted and in Russian Supreme Soviet (Parliament). This draftlaw contradicts interests of emerging multypartial system in Russia, interests of Radical Party in particular. Please find here a text of appeal addressed by Russian radicals and Russian radical MP Sergey Sheboldayev to the session of the Chamber. Now it is distributed among the MPs and the collection of signatures is going on. Our goal is to collect 100 signatures of Russian MPs.

To Presidence of Supreme

Soviet of Russian Federation

To Committee on Mass Media, Relations with Public

Organizations and Mass

Movements of Citizens and Study

of Public Opinion

"The Political Parties draftlaw being prepared to a first reading in the Supreme Soviet of Russia provoces a nomber of hesiatations demanding imidiate discussion.

1. Article 7 of draftlaw allowes only Russian citizens living permanently on Russian territory and persons without citizenship to join political parties working in Russian Federation. This article separates, ferst of all, Russians living out of Russia from political life of their country.

2. The draftlaw makes the right to get a leagal status of political party dependant from its participation (Article 3) in the ellections. It also containes other restrictions able to become obstacles for natural process of partizan selforganization.

3. Now, when the draft of Election Code is not prepared, that is not useful to include articles (Articles 18 and 27) promoting the state financing for the paties into the draftlaw. The example of CPSU, which our people were forced to feed for such a long time, demondes to be very careful in question of financing. If state financing becomes the main legal source of partisan incomes, it will put parties under governmental control.

In many democratic state, for example in Spain, Canada, Italy, there is no law regulating partizan issue. But if this law is needed for Russia, all defects being contained by its draft must be excluded from it before it would be presented for discussion by the session of Supreme Soviet."

I will inform you about campaign development.

Friendly yours

Dmitry Petrov, Russia