In early 2014 , Russia 's political landscape changed dramatically : Following the Euromaidan demonstrations and civil unrest in Kiev , which resulted in establishment of a new pro-EU president and government , a countering wave of protests and civil unrest started in Southern and Eastern Ukraine , and in Crimea , a " volunteer force of self-defense of Crimea " announced a referendum , the question for which eventually was , whether Crimea should join the Russian Federation or not . ( Later , Putin publicly declared the self-defense forces were composed of Russian military . ) Following the referendum , Crimea de facto became a part of Russia . The sociological center marked the fact Putin 's rating was skyrocketing : it was just 29 % ( among all respondents , including those who were unsure or would not vote ) in January 2014 , but rose to 49 % in April 2014 , a figure that would transform to 81 % if those who were unsure or not willing to vote were excluded . <!-- The previous paragraph is important, as it helps to take a perspective on things, so we do not just list facts about Navalny's life only and therefore give him a better, more detailed coverage. We may move it elsewhere, but a complete story would need it--> On 14 November 2014 , the two remaining RPR-PARNAS co-chairmen , Boris Nemtsov and former Prime Minister of Russia Mikhail Kasyanov , declared it was the right moment to create a wide coalition of political forces , who favor the " European choice " ; Navalny 's Progress Party was seen as one of the potential participants . However , on 27 February 2015 , Nemtsov was shot dead . Prior to his assassination , Nemtsov worked on a project of a coalition ( in which Navalny and Khodorkovsky would become co-chairmen of RPR-PARNAS ; Navalny declared merging parties would invoke bureaucratic difficulties and question the legitimacy of party 's right to participate in federal elections without signatures collecting ) ; the murder accelerated the work , and on 17 April , Navalny declared a wide discussion had taken place among Progress Party , RPR-PARNAS , and other closely aligned parties , which resulted in an agreement of formation of a new electoral bloc between the two leaders . Soon thereafter , it was signed by four other parties and supported by Khodorkovsky 's Open Russia foundation . Electoral blocs are not present within the current law system of Russia , so it would be realized via means of a single party , RPR-PARNAS , which is not only eligible for participation in statewide elections , but is also currently not required to collect citizens ' signatures for the right to participate in the State Duma elections scheduled for September 2016 thanks to the regional parliament mandate previously taken by Nemtsov . The candidates RPR-PARNAS would appoint were to be chosen via primary elections . <!-- On 5 July 2015, Kasyanov was elected as the only leader of RPR-PARNAS, and the party was renamed to just PARNAS. He added he would like to eventually re-establish the institution of co-chairmanship, adding, "Neither Alexei Navalny nor Mikhail Khodorkovsky will enter our party today and be elected as co-chairmen. But in the future, I think, such time will come". On 7 July, in an interview released by TV Rain, he specified Navalny could not leave a party of his, and this would need to be completed by PARNAS adsorbing members of the Progress Party and other parties of the coalition, and Navalny would be to come at some point when he "grows into this and feels this could be done" and join the party as well.--> The coalition claimed to have collected enough citizens ' signatures for registration in the four regions it originally aimed for . However , in one region , the coalition would declare some signatures and personal data have been altered by malevolent collectors ; signatures in the other regions have been rejected by regional election commissions . Сomplaints have been issued to the Central Election Commission of Russia , after which the coalition has been registered as a participant in a regional election in one of the three contested regions , Kostroma Oblast . According to a source of '' Gazeta.ru '' " close to the Kremlin " , the presidential administration saw coalition 's chances as very low , yet was wary , but the restoration in one region occurred so PARNAS could " score a consolation goal " . According to the official election results , the coalition scored 2.28 % of votes , not enough to overcome the 5 % threshold ; the party admitted the election was lost . On 13 December 2016 Navalny announced his entry into the presidential race
Nemtsov was shot dead
Assassination of Boris Nemtsov
Alexei Navalny