"We have been thinking about this for several years but the political climate after (parliamentary elections in) December is such that we have no doubts about the need to create a political party," a top member of the organisation, Ida Kuklina said.

"No one is defending democratic values anymore after the crushing defeat" of the Union of Right Forces (SPS) and Yabloko, two liberal parties which lost all but a handful of their seats in the State Duma lower house of parliament, she told a press conference.

The pro-Kremlin United Russia party triumphed in the poll, winning more than two-thirds of seats which would enable the government to change the Russian constitution.

"Who can guarantee today that the constitution will not be changed and that we will still have a parliament?" said the committee's head Valentina Melnikova.

The Soldiers' Mothers Committee is a nationwide non-government organisation set up in 1989 by the mothers of Russian servicemen. It has campaigned strongly against the war in breakaway Chechnya launched in October 1999.

As a political party, it will defend the rights of Russian children and women, promote a progressive social and economic programme and will fight to ensure "the authorities respect their obligations towards citizens," Melnikova said.

As for the war in Chechnya, "we have denounced it from the start as a quagmire and we will continue to do so," as thousands of young people have been killed or injured there "which no one cares about," she added.

WAR.WIRE