Yury Afonin

Yury Vyacheslavovich Afonin (; born 22 March 1977) is a Russian politician and member of the State Duma of the Russian Federation for the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. He is also a member of the board of the Youth Public Chamber of Russia.

In the 2007 Russian legislative election, he was elected to the 5th State Duma as a member of the CPRF party list, re-elected for the 6th Duma in the 2011 election, 7th Duma in 2016 election, and most recently the 8th State Duma in the 2021 election. As a deputy, he sits on the Security and Anti-Corruption Committee, the Defence Budgetary Commission, and the Commission for Deputy Income and Property Reporting.

From 1999 to 2000, he worked as a lead specialist in the Committee on Economics of the administration of Shchyokino and Shchyokinsky District, Tula Oblast.

Since 2002, he has served as secretary, and since 2008 as first secretary, of the Tula Regional Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF).

In November 2003, he was elected First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Union of Communist Youth.

In April 2004, at the plenary session of the Union of Komsomol Organizations, he was elected head of the executive committee of SKO-VLKSМ.

From 2004 to 2017, he was secretary of the Central Committee of the CPRF.

At the XIII Congress of the CPRF, held in Moscow on 29–30 November 2008, he was elected to the Secretariat of the Central Committee. At the XV Congress of the CPRF, held on 23–24 February 2013, he was elected a member of the Presidium of the Central Committee.

Legislative activity From 2007 to 2019, during his tenure as a deputy of the 5th, 6th, and 7th convocations of the State Duma, he co-authored 76 legislative initiatives and amendments to draft federal laws.

Awards

Certificate of Honour of the President of the Russian Federation (21 August 2018) — for contributions to the preparation and organization of the 19th World Festival of Youth and Students, held in Sochi in 2017. Commendation of the Government of the Russian Federation (16 December 2019) — for a significant contribution to the development of Russian parliamentarism and active legislative work.

Sanctions On March 11, 2022, the United States imposed sanctions on 12 State Duma deputies involved in the recognition of the independence of the LPR and DPR, including Afonin. On March 15, Japan introduced similar sanctions. As of December 2022, he is under sanctions imposed by Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, France, Switzerland, Ukraine, New Zealand, Belgium, Japan, and the European Union.