The Party was founded in February, 1993
Registered in April, 9, 1993 (N 1647)
Date of the Party Charter entry is May, 29, 1998
Administrative body - The Central Council
Chairman - LAPSHIN Mikhail Ivanovich
Phone: 958-24-70, 208-58-20, 204-46-16

The Head of the Deputies Group in the State Duma
KHARITONOV Nikolay Mikhaylovich:
Phone: 292-89-01, 292-59-94;
Fax: 292-89-00

Headquarters address:
B. 5, 15, Malaya Kaluzhskaya St., Moscow, 117071

Press-secretary - EMELIN Pavel Aleksandrovich:
292-96-69

AGRARIAN PARTY of RUSSIA (APR) numbers 60 regional organizations. The Party has about 300 thousand members. Though there has been no increase of the followers observed for the last two years. This state of stagnation, and even a slight decrease in the number of the members, may be explained by the failure at the 1995 elections to the State Duma when APR did not get over the 5% election barrier. APR is a party of the left opposition and enters the Peoples-Patriotic Union of Russia. The party may be characterized as moderate socialistic. APR claims the present course of reforms to be fatal for the agrarian sector.

In the State Duma of the first convocation (1993-1995) the APR faction consisted of 55 deputies. Now the party deputies group includes 20 deputies elected in single member constituencies. The group is headed by Nikolay Kharitonov.

APR leader Mikhail Lapshin was elected a State Duma deputy in Gorno-Altaic constituency in May, 1998.

Soils issue is the most crucial question for AGP. The party stands for free-of-charge transfer of land areas into private property, life inherited tenure or for use to everyone who works on land or wishes to receive land for manufacture of agricultural production, gardening, and farming.

Objectives:

- protection of political, civil, economic, social, cultural rights and freedom of peasantry, workers of agriculture, countrymen;

- participation in referenda of the Russian Federation, referenda of the subjects of the Russian Federation and local referenda;

- Assistance to radical improvement of the social conditions; growth of well-being of a rural worker; establishment of legally equal and mutually advantageous relations between urban and rural areas, between industry and agriculture; assistance to development of agricultural production;

- consolidation of the society for revival of Russian countryside, its mode of life, culture and traditions;

- participation in development of the agrarian policy, its separate directions, strategies and tactics of realization;

- participation in formation of the bodies of the government and realization of the party program through the representatives in these bodies.

In 1997 in course of discussion of land laws in parliament the party disputed harshly against free sale and purchase of land. Mikhail Lapshin declared, that "those who 80 years after, at the end of XX century, plan to reanimate the landlord's order in Russia should realize the inevitability of great calamities that would follow".

LAPSHIN Mikhail Ivanovich
was born on September, 1, 1934 in Altai. Mikhail Ivanovich graduated from agricultural academy n.a. Timiryazev with speciality 'agriculturist' and Moscow Institute of Foreign Languages n.a. Moris Torez. Mikhail Lapshin is a candidate of economic sciences. Since 1961 the director of state farm "Zavety Lenina", Stupinsky Region, Moskovskaya Oblast. Lapshin is a member of the CPSU since 1961. Occupied posts of the vice-president of Communist Party of the Russian Federation and the co-chairman of Socialist Party of Workers. In 1990 Lapsin was elected a People's Deputy of the Russian Federation, he headed "Agrarian Union" faction in the Supreme Council of the Russian Federation. Mikhail Ivanovich was one of the organizers of the Agrarian Party of Russia, and was elected its chairman. Lapshin is a deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.