National Salvation Front (Russia)

National Salvation Front (Russia)

The National Salvation Front (Russian: Фронт Национального Спасения, Front Natsional'nogo Spaseniya, ФНС, FNS) was a broad coalition of communist, socialist (Roy Medvedev's Socialist Workers' Party) and ultra-nationalist movements against the reforms in Russia. The front was organized on 24 October 1992. The co-chairmen of the movements were Sergey Baburin, Nikolay Pavlov (both Russian All-People's Union), Gennady Zyuganov (future leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation), Ilya Konstantinov, Mikhail Astafyev (Constitutional Democratic Party - Party of Popular Freedom), Valery Ivanov, Vladimir Isakov, Gennady Sayenko and Albert Makashov.

20 October 1992 President Boris Yeltsin issued decree that forbade the organization but in February 1993 the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation abolished the decree as violating the constitution. During the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis the front created militias supporting the defense of the White House, Moscow and was disbanded by a decree of President Yeltsin after his decisive victory in his conflict with the parliament.

In 1994 some former members of the front created two small nationalist organizations: one led by Valeri Smirnov and one led by Ilya Konstantinov.