We, the legally elected representatives of the citizens of Russia, endowed by the people with legislative powers, have gathered at our Congress under the present extraordinary circumstances,

Aspiring to the preservation of the lives and prosperity of our fellow citizens,

Considering it immoral to continue inaction and passively wait for change,

Rejecting the regime of the usurper Putin,

Condemning the wars of aggression and injustice,

Considering democracy to be the only acceptable way to govern Russia,

Expressing our willingness to re-create the Russian state,

WE DECLARE:

- The Russian Federation is not a free, legal, democratic state.

- Russian statehood is in the deepest crisis, threatening the survival of the peoples living on Russian territory. Putin's criminal actions first led to the appropriation of vast national wealth by a small group of his cronies, and then to aggression against his immediate neighbors. The Kremlin regime threatens its own people and the world with annihilation in a nuclear war that will inevitably become global.

- The "nullification" of the Russian Constitution, adopted in a dubious referendum as a result of the bloody events of 1993, combined with increasingly sophisticated techniques of election fraud at all levels, has led to the fact that there are currently no legally elected functioning institutions of power in Russia, from the president to municipal assemblies.

- The current situation is in fact a state of emergency, and the norms of federal legislation on the state of emergency apply to it, in particular, Article 14 of the Federal Constitutional Law "On the State of Emergency", according to which the term of parliamentary powers is extended for the duration of the state of emergency that arose in March 2014 after the start of the invasion of Ukraine;

- in the context of a comprehensive crisis that has engulfed Russian society and the state, which is exacerbated by the conduct of an aggressive war, we declare the Congress of People's Deputies to be a permanent body of popular representation and legislative power in Russia, whose task is to prepare the legislative framework and, subsequently, to form temporary institutions of executive and judicial power in the transition period.

In assuming these obligations and the rights associated with them, the Congress:

- Declares its commitment to the values of freedom and human rights as defined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by resolution 217 A (III) of the United Nations General Assembly of 10 December 1948, and in the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (as amended and supplemented on 1 June 2010);

- affirms that the sole bearer of sovereignty and source of power in Russia are the peoples of Russia;

- declares its adherence to democracy and the republican form of government;

- condemns the tyranny that has seized power in Russia;

- recognizes as unlawful any decisions by Putin, his government, and his subordinate structures; declares unlawful the execution of such decisions except in cases where non-compliance poses a direct threat to the life and liberty of citizens, or where the execution of such orders is objectively necessary for the public good;

- condemns and rejects totalitarianism, autocracy and the imperial nature of government in any form;

- condemns all civilian casualties and rejects terrorist acts against civilians, regardless of worldview;

- states the necessity of constitutional reform, since the Constitution adopted in 1993 failed to protect the democratic government from the forces of tyranny;

- acknowledges the necessity of large-scale reforms, which should result in a new Russian state based on democracy and the rule of law;

- recognizes the necessity of participation in the nation-building of all political forces, with the exception of those who openly oppose the provisions of this Declaration, and calls on the Russian opposition of different views to take part in the work of the Congress;

- declares its determination to prevent a revanchist movement of the forces of tyranny, for which purpose all necessary legislative measures will be taken, including lustration measures;

- declares its commitment to freedom of speech, and in this connection considers it necessary to open and publish the archives of the Soviet secret services, the closed archives of the Soviet authorities and the CPSU, as well as those of the secret services of the Russian Federation;

- recognizes and affirms the right of peoples to self-determination as defined by the United Nations Charter and the Declaration on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation among States, adopted by United Nations General Assembly resolution 2625 (XXV) of October 24, 1970, and believes that the future Russian state must be based on the free choice of the peoples populating it, and the form of government must be determined by their authorized and legitimate representatives elected in direct, universal elections

- acknowledges as a priority the development of all nations living on the territory of Russia, the legislative provision of conditions for the preservation of their language and culture, including support of educational programmes in their native language. The congress recognizes the legal subjectness of the Russian people and their right to the preservation and development of their own ethnocultural identity, which the state must ensure by law;

- considers it necessary to carry out the complete de-occupation of Crimea and other Ukrainian regions with the withdrawal of all military units, condemns acts of annexation and wars of aggression against other states;

- considers the policy of supporting unrecognized pseudo-state formations throughout the former USSR unacceptable other than through legitimate UN decisions;

- approves the state borders of Russia as of February 19, 2014;

- recognizes the need for fair compensation to the Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian state, the specific forms and amounts of which will be determined by relevant agreements;

- states the necessity to establish a constitutional ban on a preventive nuclear strike, as well as on any use of the Armed Forces of Russia, except to defend its territory, to fulfill allied obligations within the framework of defensive alliances, or by direct order of the UN Security Council.

The activities of all structures created by the Congress shall be consistent with the values and objectives of this Declaration.

Adopted at the First Congress on November 4, 2022