The first ‘pan-European’ attempt was made as far back as 2004, when the European Russian Alliance (ERA) was founded – “a civil society organisation bringing together Russian public figures, journalists and politicians from European Union countries”. The Alliance comprises representatives from 20 European countries.  The organisation’s initial working title was the ‘Russian Party of Europe’.  
The Alliance’s founding conference took place in Prague in 2005. At the same time, ‘the four existing Russian parties in the EU established the Federation of Russian Parties of Europe (the “For Human Rights in a United Latvia” Association, ‘Union of Russians in Lithuania’, ‘Russian Party of Estonia’ and ‘Party for the Defence of Russophony in France’). 
In the end, it proved impossible to establish the party due to a lack of support from the émigré community. Consequently, the ERA has continued to exist as a civil society movement – since 2007, it has been led by Tatyana Zhdanok, a Member of the European Parliament from Latvia. Cyprus is represented in the Alliance by Natalia Kardash,  editor-in-chief of the pro-Kremlin publication ‘Vestnik Kipra’ and a member of the Co-ordination Council of Russian Compatriots in Cyprus. Germany is represented by Larisa Yurchenko, chair of the All-German Co-ordinating Council of Russian Compatriots. All the ‘Co-ordinating Councils of Compatriots’ scattered across the globe, like the European Alliance itself, are offshoots of the Russian security services, masquerading as civil society organisations.