Opposition Platform — For Life
The Opposition Platform – For Life (; , OPZZh) was a pro-Russian and Eurosceptic political party in Ukraine founded in December 2018. The party was the successor of For Life (), formerly All-Ukrainian Union "Center" from 1999 to 2016. It was registered in December 1999. In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the party won 37 seats on the nationwide party list and six constituency seats. Although it has held as pro-Russian policies, the party publicly denounced the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine on 8 March 2022. On 20 March 2022, the party's activities were suspended by  the National Security and Defense Council for the period of martial law due to allegations of having ties to Russia made by the Council. On 14 April 2022 the party was dissolved in Ukraine's parliament. On 21 April 2022 25 former party's deputies formed a new parliamentary group called "Platform for Life and Peace" (). History. All-Ukrainian Union "Center". At the 2002 Ukrainian parliamentary election the party won only 0.16% of the votes as part of National Movement Bloc along with People's Movement of Ukraine for Unity. During the legislative elections of 26 March 2006, the party  was part of the Opposition Bloc "Ne Tak". In the 30 September 2007 elections, the party failed as part of the Electoral Bloc of Political Parties "KUCHMA" to win parliamentary representation. The party did not participate in the 2012 parliamentary elections. For the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the party joined Opposition Bloc along with other five parties; in these elections Opposition Bloc won 29 seats. For life. In July 2016, former members of Opposition Bloc Vadim Rabinovich and Yevhen Murayev reconstituted the party under the name "For Life". In September 2018, Murayev left For Life and five days later created  the new political party Ours (Nashi). The Ministry of Justice of Ukraine did not register the name change of All-Ukrainian Union "Center". Foundation of Opposition Platform – For Life. According to "Ukrayinska Pravda", the negotiations on the unification of the parties For Life and Opposition Bloc started in the summer of 2018. "Ukrayinska Pravda" claims these talks were instigated by Serhiy Lyovochkin who, along with Dmytro Firtash, controlled one of the wings of Opposition Bloc, whereas Rinat Akhmetov controlled the other wing of Opposition Bloc. In early November 2018, the Opposition Bloc members loyal to Akhmetov decided to take pause  the negotiations. On 5 November 2018, one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest associates and chief of staff to former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Medvedchuk was elected chairman of the party For Life political party's council. Medvedchuk was also leader of the Ukrainian Choice NGO, a socially conservative pro-Russian political group and partially prohibited in Ukraine as openly anti-Ukrainian. On 9 November 2018, Opposition Bloc chairman Yuriy Boyko and "For Life" signed an agreement (called Opposition Platform – For Life) for cooperation in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election and the parliamentary election of the same year.<ref  name="pravda2018/11/17/7198528"> The association of Boyko-Rabinovich was determined with the presidential candidate, "Ukrayinska Pravda" (17 November 2018)</ref> The same day, Opposition Bloc leading members Vadym Novynskyi and Borys Kolesnikov claimed the agreement was a "personal initiative" of Boyko and that the party had not taken any decisions on cooperation with For Life. Opposition Bloc members, Ukraine – Forward! and Party of Development of Ukraine joined the Opposition Platform – For Life alliance on 17 November 2018. The same day, Opposition Platform – For Life nominated Boyko as its candidate in the 2019 Ukrainian presidential election. After Boyko was excluded from the  parliamentary faction of the Opposition Bloc (the reason given was "because they betrayed their voters'" interests), on 20 November 2018 he announced the creation of a new parliamentary group called Opposition Platform – For Life. According to Boyko, part of Opposition Bloc is to join this new parliamentary group and he claimed "we have several offers from MPs belonging to other groups". On 13 December 2018, it was announced that a new party, called "Opposition Platform – For Life", had been formed. Boyko's official nomination was announced on 17 November. Because Opposition Platform – For Life was not yet registered as a  party in January 2019, it could not nominate him as a presidential candidate. Hence on 17 January 2019 Boyko submitted documents to the Central Election Commission of Ukraine for registration as a self-nominated candidate. In the election Boyko took fourth place with 11.67% of the total vote. 2019 parliamentary election and 2020 local elections. Yuriy Boiko Vadym Rabinovych Viktor Medvedchuk Natalya Korolevska Serhiy Lyovochkin Vasyl Nimchenko Nestor Shufrych Serhiy Larin Serhiy Dunaev Taras Kozak In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election the party won 37 seats (13.05% of the total votes) on the nationwide party list and 6 constituency seats . 11.4% of the party's elected deputies were women. In the October 2020 Ukrainian local elections Opposition Platform – For Life took third place with 11.75% of all votes being cast to the party. (The highest number of seats in the election was won by Servant of the People with 17.59% of local deputies nominated in the election by this party. Second place was for Fatherland with 12.39%.) The party was successful in South and Eastern Ukraine, although the local parties of city mayors (in particular in Odessa, Mykolaiv and Sloviansk) cost them support compared with its predecessor Opposition Bloc in  the 2015 Ukrainian local elections. Oleksandr Popov, former head of the Kyiv City State Administration, was a candidate for Mayor of Kyiv nominated by OPFL. In the election he received 68,757 votes, securing second place but losing the election to incumbent Mayor Vitali Klitschko. from the OPFL won the election for mayor of Kryvyi Rih. Grenade attack and call for impeachment. On 3 July 2020, a grenade was thrown into the party's office in Poltava, and one person was injured as a result of the explosion. Following the enactment of Ukrainian sanctions imposed on fellow party member Taras Kozak  and his media outlets on 2 February 2021, the party's deputies initiated the impeachment of president Volodymyr Zelensky. 2022 Russian invasion and disintegration. On 24 February 2022 Russia launched a full scale invasion of Ukraine. On this day party member Illia Kyva expressed support for the invasion and blamed the war on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and urged him to resign. On 3 March 2022 Kyva was expelled from the party. On 7 March 2022 the party deprived Medvedchuk, who was charged with high treason in May 2021, of the post of co-chairman of the party; making Yuriy  Boyko the sole chairman. Medvedchuk had escaped his house arrest on 28 February 2022. On 14 April, he was apprehended once again. On 7 March 2022 the party also demanded "from the leadership of the Russian Federation to stop the aggression against Ukraine and calls on the participants of the negotiation process to immediately decide on a ceasefire and withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukraine." The party also decided to support the participation of members of the Territorial Defense Forces to protect critical infrastructure, housing and looting and to support humanitarian corridors for the withdrawal of civilians. On 15  March 2022 parliament deprived Kyva of his mandate as a People's Deputy. Opposition Platform – For Life was one of several political parties suspended by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine on 20 March 2022, along with Derzhava, Left Opposition, Nashi, Opposition Bloc, Party of Shariy, Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine, Socialist Party of Ukraine, Union of Leftists, and the Volodymyr Saldo Block. At the 24 March 2022 parliamentary sitting 5 MPs announced their resignation from the Opposition Platform – For Life faction. Meanwhile parliament itself was consulting with the Ministry of Justice on actions against the party's  remaining deputies, as Ukrainian law did not provide for a single mechanism for suspending the activities of the party represented in parliament. On 26 March 2022 the faction Opposition Platform – For Life in the Odessa Oblast Council ceased to exist. 18 deputies joined the newly formed deputy group Our Home is Ukraine. On 14 April 2022 the party was dissolved in Ukraine's parliament. On 21 April 2022 the Opposition Platform – For Life deputies in Ukraine's national parliament formed a new parliamentary group. The group was named "Platform for Life and Peace" () and headed by Boyko and consisted of  25 MPs. Policies. In the party election program for the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, the party promised to undo decommunization, lustration, Ukrainization policies, and renegotiate the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement while reviving trade with the CIS countries. The group wants the "neutrality of Ukraine in the military-political sphere and non-participation in any military-political alliances." As a means of fighting poverty, the party advocates the "reduction of gas tariffs for the population of Ukraine to 3800–4000 UAH per thousand cubic meters due to direct gas supplies from the Russian Federation." The party wants to end the War  in Donbass by negotiating directly with the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic. The party program does not mention the issue of Crimea. At a conciliation council among leaders of parliamentary factions on 17 February 2020, Vadim Rabinovych urged the sending of a Ukrainian delegation to participate in the 9 May victory parade in Moscow and started to sing the Soviet song "The Sacred War" ("Rise Up, the Mighty Country). The party celebrates Red Army veterans by marking occasions like the Victory Day over Nazism in World War II and the Day of Liberation of Ukraine  from Fascist Invaders. During hostile relations between Russia and Ukraine, the parliamentary deputy group of Opposition PlatformFor Life sent its delegation as official parliamentary delegation of Ukraine to Russia's State Duma on 10 March 2020. The OPFL delegation was met with a standing ovation in the State Duma. Soon after information about the trip appeared, the press service office of the Verkhovna Rada denied that the parliament had commissioned the delegation to conduct any negotiations with Duma representatives and no official documents had been issued for the foreign visit of the delegation. After Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February  2022 on 8 March 2022 the party voiced its stance on this. The party stated that it "demands from the leadership of the Russian Federation to stop the aggression against Ukraine and calls on the participants of the negotiation process to immediately decide on a ceasefire and withdrawal of all Russian troops from Ukraine." The party also decided to support the participation of members of the Territorial Defense Forces to protect critical infrastructure, housing and looting and to support humanitarian corridors for the withdrawal of civilians.