It was created in the early 1990s initially to promote the rights of ethnic Russians living in the newly independent countries of the former Soviet Union.

In 1999 it again failed to pass the 5% threshold, although KRO candidates did win a small number of single-mandate district seats.

In 2006 the KRO was revived by Russian nationalist politician Dmitry Rogozin following the merger of his Rodina party into a new Fair Russia coalition.

Rogozin initially stated that he would turn the KRO into a political party to contest the Duma elections in December 2007.

[1] On September 21, 2011, with the participation of Dmitry Rogozin, the constituent congress of the Motherland-Congress of Russian Communities movement was held, at which the organizing committee for the restoration of the Rodina party was established.