Anastasia Udaltsova

Anastasia Olegovna Udaltsova (Gorban; Анастасия Олеговна Удальцова) is a Russian politician, who serves as member of the State Duma since 29 June 2022.

Born in Ukraine, Udaltsova was not a citizen of Russia until 1998, around when she moved to Moscow and became politically active on the Russian political left. In June 2022, after pressure from the party's grassroots, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov appointed Udaltsova to the State Duma after a vacancy occurred. As a member of the Left Front, she is the only lawmaker to be part of an organisation explicitly opposed to the rule of President Vladimir Putin.

Biography
Born on 2 September 1978 in Cherkasy, Ukraine, Anastasia received Russian citizenship in 1998. Before moving to Moscow, she was briefly a member of the Communist Party of Ukraine. Then for two years she joined the Eduard Limonov's National Bolshevik Party. In 2000 Anastasia met Sergei Udaltsov, coordinator of the Vanguard of Red Youth, whom she married a year later. They have two sons.

After the Left Front was founded in 2008, Udaltsova became its press secretary. She took an active part in 2011 post-election rallies, and after Sergei Udaltsov was arrested in the Bolotnaya Square case, Anastasia acted as the coordinator of the Left Front.

Since 2013 she has been an assistant to the Communist State Duma member Valery Rashkin. In 2019, she ran for the Moscow City Duma in district 5, supported by Navalny's "Smart Voting". Udaltsova was narrowly defeated by pro-government candidate, TV presenter Roman Babayan.

In June 2021, she was nominated by the Communist Party for the 8th State Duma of Russia in the Nagatinsky constituency, her main rival was United Russia's Svetlana Razvorotneva. Leading in the three-day voting, Udaltsova lost election after the e-votes were talled and declared. The media also reported on massive abuse of early voting in favor of United Russia party.

On 2 June 2022, CPRF leader Gennady Zyuganov announced that Anastasia Udaltsova would be given the seat of Valery Rashkin, who was stripped of his parliamentary immunity.

In December 2022, the European Union added Anastasia Udaltsova to their sanctions list.

Personal life
Udaltsova is married to Sergei Udaltsov, who has served an almost five-year prison term for his role in protests against President Vladimir Putin.