What is "solidarnost"

Solidarnost (Солидарность, Russian for "Solidarity", named after the Polish Solidarność) is a Russian liberal democratic political movement founded on 13 December 2008 by a number of well-known members of the liberal democratic opposition, including Garry Kasparov, Boris Nemtsov and others from the Yabloko and Union of Right Forces (which had just merged with two pro-Kremlin parties, the Democratic Party of Russia and Civilian Power, to form the pro-Kremlin liberal democratic Right Cause) parties, leaders of the Dissenters March events, the Committee 2008, the People's Democratic Union, the United Civil Front, The Other Russia and other politicians and political groups.

In an apparent attempt to weaken the movement immediately before its foundation, President Dmitri Medvedev nominated former leader of the Union of Right Forces Nikita Belykh to become governor of the Kirov Oblast (Belykh agreed to take the position). As reported by the International Herald Tribune Belykh "sought to explain his decision by arguing that he could do more good by working with the Kremlin. He said he would prove that someone with progressive ideas could succeed in the government", while saying that "When you have nothing at all, when you cannot even get close in the elections, when all your paths are being cut off, then you just can't have a political party."