[5][6] While Gudkov ran as candidate of Yabloko party[7][8] and worked with the non-systemic opposition, he lost in the 18 September 2016 election for the Russian Parliament.
Gudkov made his first steps in politics in 1998–1999, becoming a member of the electoral headquarters of his father in the elections to the 3rd State Duma from Kolomna single-mandate district #106.
After the merger of the NPRF with "A Just Russia" in early-mid April 2007, Gennady Gudkov entered the Political Bureau of the Presidium of the Central Council of the Party, and Dmitry headed its press department.
[12] At the end of April 2007, the youth blocks of the NPRF, the Social Democratic Party of Russia (SDPR), the human rights organization "Civil Society", the movements "Ura", "League of Justice", "Energy of Life", "Young Life" and other youth organizations of "A Just Russia" were united within the all-Russian movement "Pobeda" ("Victory").
[12] In December 2011, Gudkov was elected to the 6th State Duma at the head of the list of "A Just Russia" from the Ryazan and Tambov regions, where the party gained 15% and 6% respectively (compared to 13% in the country).
[33][34] In the period of winter 2011 to spring 2012, Gudkov took an active part in protest actions and acted as one of the organizers of the rallies "For Fair Elections".
[12] During the unauthorized "public festivities" on Kudrinskaya Square following Vladimir Putin's inauguration, Gudkov tried to present the rally as his meeting with voters to prevent the detention of protesters.
Some of them were suspended for voting for Dmitry Medvedev for the post of the prime minister, and others for rejecting the radicalization of the party because of its support and participation in protests.
Declaring his readiness to accept any decision of fellow party members, he expressed confidence that "A Just Russia" "makes a strategic mistake in playing up to the authorities".
According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, on the day of silence on 17 September, 55 people engaged in illegal propaganda in favor of Gudkov were arrested.
The politician noted that he did not face falsifications, and both Gudkov and Katz agreed that among the reasons of the defeat were low turnout, indifference of voters and public distrust of elections.
Such cases were noted in Khoroshevo-Mnevniki, Basmanny district and Arbat, and disagreements included, in particular, differences in views on the improvement of specific streets or the attitude to paid parking.
[62] On 1 June 2021 Dmitry Gudkov was sent to police custody on the charges of "causing property damage by deception or breach of trust" of city of Moscow.
[66] In his Facebook post Gudkov explained that he received credible threats from the Presidential Administration of Russia that "otherwise the fake criminal case will continue until his arrest".
[73] During the election campaign in 2016 Eduard Bagirov, Gudkov's opponent, published a footage of the politician's undeclared residence in the Kolomensky District, Moscow region, which has two houses, auxiliary buildings, a sauna complex, a winter garden and a sports field.
[78] The commission was satisfied with the documents provided, and Gudkov soon sold the "problem" townhouse for 23.5 million rubles, which was noted in his income declaration of 2013.
[85] In her blog and in interviews, Tkach said that together with Gudkov, at the meeting there were also Vyacheslav Dushenko [ru], a member of "A Just Russia", and the son of the owner of the Investcom company, which was claiming for the land.
According to Tkach, Gudkov represented the developer as sponsor of the "Parfenov" program on the TV channel "Dozhd" and claimed that by allowing the demolition of the building she would support the Russian opposition, and Dushenko threatened her with the use of an administrative resource.
[86] Radio “Svoboda” noted that earlier Gudkov's attempt to finance "Parfenov" through the Opposition Coordinating Council led to a conflict with a number of its members and Andrey Piontkovsky’s withdrawal from the association.
In December 2010, Kuznetsov was fired from Transsibneft for systematic non-fulfillment of his duties (the employee twice tried to challenge the dismissal, but the court took the side of the employer), and in the spring of 2012 he became Gudkov's assistant as a member of the State Duma.
The specialists, including Yevgeny Upadyshev, the deputy head of the Verkhne-Ob basin department for fishery, named the freezing of the rivers, which is characteristic of the Novosibirsk region, to be the likely cause of fish death.
[94][95] On 1 March 2013, Dmitry Gudkov travelled to the United States, where he planned to agree on cooperation in the search for undeclared real estate of Russian officials, as well as to visit families who adopted children from Russia.
In conclusion of his speech, Gudkov asked the Americans to help Vladimir Putin in the fight against corruption, and to spread information about the foreign property of Russian officials.
[97] Gudkov's speech provoked sharp criticism of journalists from the state-run media of Dmitry Kiselyov and Vladimir Solovyov, as well as the deputies.
Sergei Zheleznyak from "United Russia" called his colleague a traitor, and the leader of LDPR party Vladimir Zhirinovsky demanded to arrest Gudkov for treason.
[96] On 13 March 2013, Sergei Zheleznyak sent a request to the State Duma committee on matters of parliamentary ethics in connection with Gudkov's trip to the USA.
[98] On 15 March, deputies Sergei Zheleznyak, Svetlana Goryacheva, Oleg Denisenko [ru] and Igor Lebedev signed an appeal asking for an assessment of Dmitry Gudkov's actions in connection with his trip to the US and speaking at the conference.
Members of the commission from "A Just Russia" also did not attend the meeting, and the remaining participants decided to deprive him of a right to speak for a month, to demand an apology and to offer him to hand over his mandate.
[100] At the same time, Nikolay Kovalev, head of the commission for revenue control of "United Russia" deputies, reported that he had spoken in Vienna with US Senator Ben Cardin about joint efforts to find foreign property and accounts of Russian officials.
[114][115] In March 2012, Valeria participated in a public gathering near the building of the Defense Ministry on New Arbat, during which the wives of military men demanded to provide them with housing.