Press release, 05.02.2015

YABLOKO Bureau proposed creation of Coalition of Political Alternative oriented toward European way of Russia’s development. The aim of the Coalition is to peacefully change the present regime through the presidential and parliamentary elections.
It is presumed that the Coalition will also agree on its presidential candidate and form a joint candidates’ list for the State Duma elections. YABLOKO has prepared both the team and the road map for anti-crisis governing.

The Bureau states that, taking into consideration the extremely hard consequences the government’s policies led, the parliamentary and the presidential elections can be announced pre-term.

YABLOKO proposes ten political theses for a united political platform.

They include the following:

• the European vector of development of Russia, rejecting Vladimir Putin’s course for political isolation
• condemning Bolshevism and Stalinism
• prohibition of all forms of nationalism
• transfer from the authoritarian to the democratic regime by peaceful means without revolutions or turmoil
• reforms targeted at complete separation of the business from the power which resulted from the erroneous policies of 1990′s and 2000′s.
• termination of Russia’s undeclared war against Ukraine, abolishing any support to separatists in south-east Ukraine
• non-recognition of the annexation of Crimea, an internationally unacknowledged referendum should decide the fate of Crimea.

“This platform represents an alternative to Vladimir Putin’s policies in all the fields, and this is the meaning of it. Each of the items of the platform cuts off from the Coalition such forces that in their activities may coincide with the aims of the present regime or support it in some way. This means that creation of a new democratic Russia together with these forces is impossible. One cannot head to the future with someone who is hankering after the past,” noted Sergei Mitrokhin.

“Our proposal addresses not only to political parties or movements but all democratic-minded citizens (who share the view that Russia and Europe should be close), and first of all, potential candidates. In 2016, we will have to make a list of candidates and nominate candidates for single mandate electoral districts. Our experience of forming a joint democratic list for the elections to the Moscow City Duma in 2014 demonstrated that it is possible only by uniting around a definite political platform,” said Galina Mikhaleva, Secretary of YABLOKO Political Committee.

Speaking about the platform Galina Mikhaleva noted, “We’ve never developed a programme on the base of sociological polls. Our platform contains such items that seem unpopular today. But experience shows that unions “for all good against all bad” will sooner or later turn out to be unviable.”