Press release, 15.12.2018

Grigory Yavlinsky, Chair of Yabloko Federal Political Committee, gave a speech at the Federal Council of the Yabloko party. According to the politician, Russia is on the edge of a full-fledged war.

Yavlinsky says that the root of the problem is the attempt of the Kremlin to control Kiev and curtail the sovereignty of the neighbouring state as well the refusal of the elite to acknowledge Ukraine and Ukrainian people as an equal.

The politician warned that it is likely that a military clash between Russia and Ukraine may take place at the end of December 2018.

One of Yabloko leaders also stated that Russians had become more tolerant to military conflicts. “Russians have a rather superficial attitude to a war. Discussions on the possibility of a war have become common,” he said.

In a situation like this Yabloko must become an anti-war and anti-militarist party.

The politician criticised the economic policy of the government. According to Yavlinsky, Russia’s economy is facing 20 years of stagnation. The population is under threat of impoverishment as a result of the economic sanctions. This means that Russia will lag behind other countries.

Yavlinsky named ten threats that Russia’s economy is facing including household debts, revenue contraction and a decrease in saving ratio. “The economic powerhouse cuts out,” he noted.

He also mentioned that the number of companies that close down exceeds the number of start-ups. There is a critical number of debts. The debt bubble may burst any minute and result in a new crisis.

Tax pressure has increased. There are more and more “crazy” ideas. For example, an initiative to stop using the US dollar.

Despite the fact that the official inflation rate is low, prices go up. The outflow of investable funds has reached a historical peak. Yavlinsky says that there is a serious risk that oil prices will fall.

According to the politician, there will be even more sanctions. It means that there is no hope that the quality o life will improve. “A large-scale impoverishment is to be expected,” he noted.

The situation on the legal sphere lives much to be desired: Russia reconstructs the Soviet repressive mechanism in order to intimidate the society and ruin people’s lives.

The politician named a few examples – the Novoye Velichiye (“New Greatness”) case, brining charges of espionage against scientists, opening criminal cases against Oyub Titiyev, head of the Memorial human rights group in the Chechen Republic, and Yuri Dmitriyev, a human rights defender in the Republic of Karelia.

According to Yavlinsky, “the repressive mechanism interferes in all spheres of life” including tortures in prisons or police department and using government security services to do away with business rivals.

Grigory Yavlinsky is Chairman of the Federal Political Committee of the YABLOKO Party, Vice-President of Liberal International. Doctor of Economics, Professor of the National Research University “Higher School of Economics”.