Is
Modernisation in Russia Possible? Interview
with Grigory Yavlinsky and Boris Titov by Yury Pronko,
"The Real Time" programme, Radio Finam, May
12, 2010
Interview with Grigory Yavlinsky by Marianna Minsker on RTVi
RTVi, 13 June 2026
Watch on YouTube with automatic English subtitles
There has been much talk recently about who should concede what, which side should make overtures, and what compromises might be possible. But in the fifth year of hostilities between Russia and Ukraine, one thing is absolutely clear: there can be only one “compromise” — an immediate ceasefire agreement, followed by negotiations and diplomacy. All the deeply contentious issues will in all likelihood require months, and possibly years, of painful negotiations — through intermediaries and directly. Negotiations will not succeed if large-scale hostilities continue alongside them — no result will be achieved. A ceasefire is needed, and lives must be saved. This is critically necessary.
Forty-seven-year-old human rights defender and environmentalist Nikolai Rybakov is the fourth chairman of the Yabloko party. He joined the party in 1995 and rose from ordinary member to the head of Russia’s largest and still-unbanned anti-war organisation. Rybakov became party chairman in 2019, meaning that his tenure has coincided with mass political repression, the beginning of the full-scale war, and the transformation of Putinism into its totalitarian form.
Photo: Denis Volkov / Photo by the Yabloko Party University
On 18 June, the Yabloko Party University invites all those interested to a lecture by sociologist Denis Volkov: “Russian Public Sentiment on the Eve of the State Duma Elections”. The lecturer will present current sociological research data and analyse the key trends that will shape voter behaviour and the political agenda in the months ahead.
Statement by the Bureau of the Moscow Regional Branch of the Yabloko Party, 11.06.2026
The mass protests by Kuntsevo District residents [in Moscow] against the felling of trees in Moskvoretsky Park, and the heavy-handed detention of protesters by police officers, have once again revealed the face of the present-day Moscow authorities — authorities that valiantly contain the spread of coronavirus infection (COVID-19) in the capital by prohibiting Muscovites from exercising their constitutional right to assemble peacefully, without weapons, and hold meetings, rallies, demonstrations, marches, and pickets.
Photo: Svetlana Vasilkova / Photo by Pskov Yabloko
Svetlana Vasilkova, deputy of the Pustoshka Municipal District of Pskov and Deputy Chair of Pskov Yabloko, has been fined 1,000 roubles (approximately USD 14) under the article on “display of extremist symbols” (Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The ruling was handed down by the Opochetsky District Court on 8 June. This is the tenth administrative record drawn up against prospective party candidates ahead of the forthcoming September elections.
Photo: Viktor Shalyakin (left), member of the Bureau of Novgorod Yabloko, and Anton Kostryukov (right) at the Novgorod Regional Court / Photo by Novgorod Yabloko
Anton Kostryukov, a Yabloko member from Veliky Novgorod, will be unable to stand in the elections to the Novgorod Regional Duma. This was announced by the party’s regional branch after the Novgorod Regional Court upheld the ruling holding Anton Kostryukov administratively liable under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation (“display of extremist symbols”). The decision was handed down by a judge of the Novgorod Regional Court.
Photo: Grei Boltachev after his release from the special detention facility on 8 June 2026 / Photo by Vechernie Vedomosti
Grei Boltachev, a prominent Russian physicist, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, and leading research fellow at the Institute of Electrophysics of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, has been released in Alapayevsk (Sverdlovsk Region) following his arrest.
Picture: 4% — the share of “foreign agents” in whose case the Justice Ministry found evidence of foreign funding in 2025
Last week, Deputy Justice Minister Oleg Sviridenko staged what can only be described as an act of self-exposure. He acknowledged that foreign funding was far from the principal reason for which people were entered in the foreign agents register.
“If that were the sole criterion today, it would account for just 4% of foreign agents. Can you imagine? We would be searching with Rosfinmonitoring for money that simply isn’t there. And money isn’t needed — there are other forms now,” Sviridenko said, speaking at a session of the Federation Council Commission for the Protection of State Sovereignty.
Photo: Grey Boltachev / Photo by Vechernie Vedomosti
Scientist Grey Boltachev has been arrested in Yekaterinburg on an alleged charge of using obscene language in a public place (Article 20.1 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The news was reported by the outlet Vechernie Vedomosti, citing sources. Boltachev had previously announced his intention to stand as a Yabloko candidate for both the regional Legislative Assembly and the State Duma.
Photo: Lev Shlosberg at the court hearing on 5 June 2026 / Photo by Pskov Yabloko
A judge of Pskov Regional Court dismissed the appeals lodged by defence counsel Vladimir Danilov and Vera Kovalchuk against the ruling of a judge of Pskov City Court, by which Yabloko Deputy Chairman Lev Shlosberg’s pre-trial detention had been extended by six months.
Photo: Vladimir Sorokin / Photo by Kaliningrad Yabloko
Lawyer and Yabloko member Vladimir Sorokin has been sentenced to one year in prison for a money transfer to an organisation designated as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation (Article 282.3 Part 1 of the Criminal Code). The ruling was handed down by a judge of the Central Court of Kaliningrad.
Photo: Yegor Tkachenko / Photo by the Yabloko branch in the Sverdlovsk Region
This was reported on the agency’s website. The party is not aware whether any criminal case has been opened against Tkachenko, though a number of media outlets have already published information to that effect.
It should be noted that in April, searches were carried out at the homes of Maxim Petlin, Chairman of the Yabloko regional branch in Sverdlovsk Oblast, and Yegor Tkachenko, a former activist of Yabloko Youth in Yekaterinburg. The politicians were subsequently questioned by the Investigative Committee but were afterwards released without records being drawn up.
Photo: Maxim Kruglov during the court hearing of 20 May 2026 / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
At the fourth hearing in the case of Maxim Kruglov, held on 3 June, philologist Igor Zharkov and psychologist Veronika Konstantinova gave evidence. At the request of Maxim’s defence, they had conducted a psychological and linguistic expert assessment of the social media posts that subsequently served as the basis for opening a criminal case against the politician.
The Pskov Regional Court will hear appeals lodged by lawyers representing Yabloko Deputy Chairman Lev Shlosberg — Vladimir Danilov and Vera Kovalchuk — against the ruling of a judge of the Pskov City Court of 27 May, by which she extended the politician’s detention in custody until 21 November.
Photo: Residents of the Strogino district of Moscow and members of Moscow Yabloko during the inspection of 2 June / Photo by Vyacheslav Radchenko
On 2 June, residents of the Moscow district of Strogino, together with Moscow Yabloko, conducted an inspection at Moskvoretsky Park. In the Troitse-Lykovo area, residents have for several years been unlawfully denied access to the Moskva River in violation of the provisions of the Water Code which bans restricting public access to water reservoirs. Under the pretext of improvements to a church, a fence was erected that initially cut off residents’ access to the water first along a stretch of 300 metres and, subsequently, along almost a kilometre. Members of the Bureau of Moscow Yabloko are calling on residents to submit complaints to the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Investigative Committee demanding an investigation into the lawfulness of the Russian Orthodox Church’s actions.
Photo: Grigory Yavlinsky and Maxim Kruglov, 2019 / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Today, 3 June, the Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow continued hearing the criminal case brought against Yabloko Deputy Chairman Maxim Kruglov. He is charged with spreading “fake news” about the Russian Armed Forces (Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code) in connection with posts on social media; the politician has been held in custody since 1 October 2025. A chronology of the previous court hearings, at which witnesses from United Russia appeared for the prosecution, is available here and here.
Photo: Alexei Arbatov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
On 10 June, Yabloko’s central office will host a lecture by Alexei Arbatov, one of the world’s leading experts on nuclear deterrence and arms control. The lecture is entitled ‘The Crisis of Nuclear Arms Control’.
Alexei Arbatov is Head of the Centre International Security of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a member of Yabloko’s Federal Political Committee, and one of Russia’s foremost experts on arms control.
Photo: A screenshot from Nikolai Rybakov’s video on VKontakte
“496,000 ROUBLES. That is the amount we need to raise to cover lawyers’ fees for May,” Yabloko Chairman wrote on his Telegram channel on 2 June 2026.
“As you know, repression in the country is growing with every passing day — and it is affecting our friends and colleagues, members of the Yabloko party. Right now, six of our comrades are in detention. Administrative proceedings are under way against a number of Yabloko members. For what? For their convictions. For refusing to accept the actions of the authorities and what is happening in our country. Our colleagues who have come under pressure need good lawyers. But we cannot manage without you,” Rybakov addressed Russian citizens.
Photo: A Yabloko protest action “Stop removing us from elections!” in 2010 outside the Central Electoral Commission building / Photo by Vasily Shaposhnikov, Kommersant
The Yabloko faction in the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly has prepared a draft federal initiative to repeal an unjust ban on electoral participation. Under current law, a person fined for the “demonstration of extremist symbols”, including for publications in the Internet, loses the right to stand as a candidate for one year.
Photo: Alexander Sogomonov / Photo by the Yabloko Party University
On 9 June, The Yabloko Party University invites all those interested to a lecture by Alexander Sogomonov, Candidate of Historical Sciences and sociologist: “The world in the second quarter of the 21st century: how new ‘generations’ and demographic shifts will affect the values, education, and culture of the near future?”.
