Young Guard of United Russia
The Young Guard of United Russia is the youth wing of the United Russia party. Founded in 2005, it uses the name of the famous Young Guard, a World War II underground organization. A largely pro-Putin youth direct action group, the Young Guard claims to have 85 regional branches across Russia from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok in the far east.
The Young Guard states that it was founded to unite Russian youth and to engage young people into the social-political life of the Russian state. According to the organization, it has developed projects in many categories, e.g. "Volunteering", "Youth Electoral Campaigning", "Healthy Nation", "Accessible Environment", "Innovator", "Street Energy", 'My History', 'My Territory', "Youth Parliamentarianism", "Youth Federal Assembly", "Senses Factory", etc.
The organization has around 160,000 members. The co-presidents of its coordinating council are Alena Arshinova and Timur Prokopenko.
In late December 2010, Anna Chapman, who was a convicted spy, was appointed to the public council of the organization.