Liberal Democratic Party of Russia

LDPR – Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (Russian: ЛДПР – Либерально-демократическая партия России, romanized: LDPR – Liberalno-demokraticheskaya partiya Rossii) is a Russian ultranationalist and right-wing populist political party. It succeeded the Liberal Democratic Party of the Soviet Union (LDPSU) in Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The party was led by Vladimir Zhirinovsky since its inception until his death in April 2022. Opposing both communism and capitalism of the 1990s, the party scored a major success in the 1993 Duma elections with almost 23% of the vote, giving it 64 seats of the 450 seats in the State Duma. In the 2021 elections, the party received 7.55% of the vote, giving it 21 seats.

Despite the party's name, it has been described as "neither liberal nor democratic nor a party". The LDPR was centered around Zhirinovsky, and is often described as populist, nationalist, or ultranationalist. It has been described as adhering to statism and authoritarianism, and has also been described as fascist, though this label has been disputed. The party, as part of the "systemic opposition", is considered to be traditionally loyal to the Kremlin. The party has been a part of the federal government since May 14, 2024, with Mikhail Degtyarev serving as Minister of Sport. Its members are generally called "zhirinovets" (Russian: жириновец, lit. 'Zhirinovite').