The Young Guard of United Russia (Russian: Молодая гвардия Единой России, romanized: Molodaya gvardiya Yedinoy Rossii; MGER) 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.[2]
The Young Guard was founded to unite Russian youth, to engage young people into social-political life of Russia.[neutrality is disputed] The organization develops 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 160,000 members. The co-presidents of its coordinating council are Alena Arshinova and Timur Prokopenko.
In late December 2010 convicted spy Anna Chapman was appointed to the public council of the organization.[3][4]
