Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny has launched a new political party, though he missed its founding due to a jail sentence over nationwide protests he organized against President Vladimir Putin.
The new party, called Russia Of The Future, was created at a May 19 founding convention in Moscow, Lybov Sobol, a senior associate of the Kremlin critic, said on Twitter.
Sobol said that the party had not yet been formally registered with the Russian Justice Ministry.
She said that the goals of the party included "real changes, real reforms," including increased property protections, a fair criminal-justice system, and battling corruption "so that money from the budget does not flow into offshores and is not spent on yachts and palaces."
Navalny who has organized large street protests and published numerous reports documenting alleged corruption by Russia's ruling elite, was barred from running in the March presidential election due to a conviction on financial-crimes charges he contends were fabricated.
A Moscow court on May 15 ordered him to be jailed for 30 days after finding him guilty of repeatedly violated regulations for organizing public gatherings.
The ruling followed Navalny's detention in connection with May 5 antigovernment protests in several Russian cities.
He was one of hundreds of people apprehended in Moscow and over 1,600 people detained nationwide during the protests against Putin's inauguration to a new six-year term two days later.
