All youth parliaments of the Volga Federal District will be granted the right of legislative initiative.

      On June 10, 2026, at 18:12, Politics. The 80th meeting of the Council of Legislators of the Volga Federal District took place in Nizhny Novgorod. It was chaired by the Chairman of the Council of Legislators of the Volga Federal District, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Evgeny Lyulin. The meeting was attended by the Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Volga Federal District, Igor Komarov, Senators of the Russian Federation, heads of legislative bodies of the Volga regions, and members of the Association of Youth Parliaments.

      One of the main topics of discussion was the development of youth parliamentarism in the district. The coordinator of the Association of Youth Parliaments of the Volga Federal District, Vladimir Moskalenko, presented a report. He stated that today there are more than 300 youth parliamentary structures operating in the district, uniting over 6,000 people.

      Particular attention was paid by the meeting participants to the right of legislative initiative for young parliamentarians. As noted by Evgeny Lyulin, this tool transforms youth parliaments from discussion platforms into a real institution of power. Currently, 11 out of 14 regions in the Volga Federal District have the right of legislative initiative, and the task is to extend this practice to all subjects of the district and then to the municipal level.

      In this regard, the Council of Legislators adopted a number of specific decisions. In particular, the parliaments of Tatarstan, Chuvashia, and the Penza region were recommended to empower their youth parliaments with the right of legislative initiative. Additionally, the regions will adopt the experience of the Luhansk People's Republic in creating youth chambers under municipal councils and will also explore the possibility of enshrining in the charters of cities and districts the right of youth structures to submit their draft regulatory acts.

      The Plenipotentiary Representative of the President of the Russian Federation in the Volga Federal District, Igor Komarov, emphasized that youth parliamentarism is an important tool for engaging young citizens in public and legislative activities. According to him, this platform contributes to the development of legal literacy and the formation of initiatives that are in demand in social and economic spheres.

      International cooperation was also discussed separately. The Association of Youth Parliaments of the Volga Federal District has established close ties with Belarusian colleagues. Following the example of the district association, a similar structure has been created in the Grodno region. Together with the guys from the Union State, joint projects are already being implemented, including digital initiatives for patriotic education and the annual Congress of Small Towns, where the youth direction has become key. The meeting participants unanimously supported the proposal to allow citizens of Belarus aged 18 to 35 to join youth parliamentary structures in the Volga Federal District on equal terms with Russians.

      As a result of the discussions, the Association of Youth Parliaments was tasked with creating a unified district digital resource for the work of young parliamentarians, as well as developing regulations for their interaction with regional press services and regional management centers. Additionally, it was decided to hold a special profile shift for representatives of youth parliaments at the "iVolga" forum in 2027.

      "When we started, the guys were learning to formulate initiatives. Today they come with ready-made amendments to federal laws and calculated solutions for entire sectors. This is a qualitatively different conversation. Take our Belarusian colleagues, for example: they did not mechanically copy our model but created their own association based on our 'template' and immediately engaged in real work—projects like 'Digital Star' and joint congresses of small towns. This is not friendship for the sake of formality; it is a systematic construction of a common youth space of the Union State. And when we say 'youth is our future,' we must add: the future begins where young people have the right to influence laws," noted the Chairman of the Council of Legislators of the Volga Federal District, Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, Evgeny Lyulin.

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