Ceremony of handing the state registration certificate of the Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO to Grigory Yavlinsky
Moscow, Ministry of Justice, May 22, 2002.
Photos by Sergei Loktionov and Olga Shweitzer

Vladimir Lukin: Russia will intensify its integration into European security structures after the Rome Declaration
Press Release, May 28, 2002
Vladimir Lukin, Deputy Speaker of the State Duma from the Yabloko faction, said that after the signing of the Rome Declaration on the formation of the Russia-NATO Council, co-operation between the Russian Federation and members of the alliance will become closer and more intense.

The State Duma Committee on Education and Science proposes that the Russian Government should make development of education a priority issue when drafting the state budget for 2003
Press Release, May 28, 2002
The Government of Russia "should proceed from the fact that development of education is a priority" when drafting the federal law "On the Federal Budget for 2003" as regards financing education, the State Duma Committee on Education and Science has stated.

Meeting of the State Duma Committee on Education and Science
Photos by Olga Shweitzer, Photo Gallery, May 22, 2002

YABLOKO leader doubts the accuracy of public opinion poll on introducing censorship in the media
Press Release, May 30, 2002
Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the YABLOKO party, is against the introduction of political censorship in the media and stamps as "distorted" the data of a recent public opinion poll on introducing censorship.

12,000 Altai Teachers Protest
The Moscow Times, May 29, 2002
About 12,000 teachers in the Altai region kicked off a nationwide campaign Tuesday for education reform and higher wages, Interfax reported. Teachers unions in the western Siberian region are collecting signatures through Saturday for a petition to President Vladimir Putin. Other regions will join the drive, Interfax said.

Elections Coming Up Democrats speak about a union again
by Mariya Nikiforova, Vremya Novostei, May 28, 2002
A large scandal is rising in the Duma again. Deputy Head of the YABLOKO faction Sergei The Union of Right-Wing Forces leader Boris Nemtsov has a new idea. He doesn't think that all democratic parties should support Vladimir Putin in the next presidential election. Instead, he believes that democrats should promote a single candidate, whose identity will be determined by the time of the parliamentary elections. Nemtsov is proposing an agreement among all democratic parties: "The candidate will be nominated by the party that wins the most Duma seats, and the remaining parties will accept him." According to Nemtsov, the agreement may be signed by the Union of Right-Wing Forces, Yabloko, and Liberal Russia.

Russia looks to its future role
By Quentin Peel, The Financial Times, May 27 2002
There is nothing like a good old-fashioned summit in the Kremlin between erstwhile superpower rivals, with a treaty on nuclear missiles thrown in for good measure, to get the pundits excited.

Putin's wager
By Robert Cottrell, The Financial Times, May 21 2002
Russia and the US will be doing everything possible to ensure that the May 23-26 summit between George W. Bush and Vladimir Putin looks good and sounds good. On the Russian side this will be a relatively easy task, since the government controls the national television channels from which the great majority of Russians will get their information about the meetings in Moscow and St Petersburg.

The Risky Business of Waste Diposal. Russia's Nuclear Sewer.
Le Monde diplomatique, February 2002 (Archive)
Since Vladimir Putin became President of Russia, the Kremlin has clashed frequently with a media company that exposed, among other things, the government`s handling of the war in A journalist was sent to prison for four years last year after filming the Russian navy dumping radioactive waste into the Sea of Japan. He, like many other Russians and environmental organisations, opposed the new laws that allow the privately profitable import of foreign nuclear waste. by our special correspondent Nathalie Melis.

Grigory Yavlinsky: implementation of the agreements between the US and the RF presidents will open doors to Europe for Russia
Press Release, May 28, 2002
The leader of the Yabloko faction of the State Duma of the RF Grigory Yavlinsky thinks that the agreements reached during the Moscow summit of the US and the RF presidents "will open doors to Europe" for Russia.

Grigory Yavlinsky stresses the importance of the Russian-American agreements signed in Moscow
Press Release, May 25, 2002
Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the Yabloko faction of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, thinks that the fact that agreements signed during the Moscow summit of presidents of the RF and the USA Vladimir Putin and George Bush are subject to mandatory implementation represents "a victory of the Russian diplomacy".

Nunn and Lugar Look To Safeguard Weapons
By Vladimir Isachenkov, The Associated Press, May 28, 2002.
Worried about the apocalyptic prospect of international terrorists obtaining nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, U.S. and Russian officials and analysts met Monday to help draft possible new safeguards. Former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar, a U.S. senator from Indiana -- who together launched the decade-old U.S. effort to help contain the threat of weapons of mass destruction in the former Soviet Union -- described the threat of "catastrophic terrorism" as possibly the gravest challenge to global security.

Turning the Window on Europe Into a Door
By Grigory Yavlinsky, St Peterburg Times, May 24, 2002
AFTER Sept. 11, there was an abrupt shift in Russia's foreign policy. Despite the course that was still being pursued last summer- symbolized by Korean leader Kim Jong Il's trip across Russia in an armored train - and in the face of the opinion of the so-called political elite, President Vladimir Putin unreservedly supported the United States in its fight with Osama bin Laden's terrorists and the Taliban.

START III Putin's Breakthrough, says Russian Reform Activist
RIA Novosti. May 24, 2002
MOSCOW, May 24 [from RIA Novosti's Arina Dovgan] - Russian-US summiteers have signed a strategic offensive armaments reduction treaty. It came as a breakthrough for President Vladimir Putin, considering that a mere six months ago the USA was refusing to sign any documents at all, says Grigory Yavlinsky, prominent Russian politician and leader of Yabloko, a major reformist parliamentary group.

YABLOKO: the Communist Party is on the verge of splitting
Press Release, May 22, 2002
The heads of the YABLOKO party think that today we are witnessing a "crisis in the leadership of the CPRF".

The Party of Middle Age
By Mikhail Vinogradov, Izvestia, May 22, 2002
On Wednesday the officials of the Ministry of Justice will grant the Yabloko party a certificate of registration. At the same time a months-long domestic reform of the organisation is coming to an end. A strong organisational structure has been established, and Grigory Yavlinsky thinks the party is now ready to fight for the electorate.

State registration of the Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO handed to its Chairman Grigory Yavlinsky
Press Release, May 22, 2002
The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation has registered the Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO as an all-Russia political party.

The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation has registered the Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO as an all-Russian political party
RIA "OREANDA", May 23, 2002
Moscow. Deputy Justice Minister Yevgeni Sidorenko handed over the state registration certificate of the YABLOKO party to party Chairman Grigory Yavlinsky.

Grigory Yavlinsky expects a breakthrough in military and political issues during the summit meeting of Vladimir Putin and George Bush
Press Release, May 22, 2002
The leader of the YABLOKO party Grigory Yavlinsky expects first and foremost a breakthrough in military and political issues during the summit meeting of Vladimir Putin and George Bush.

The Kremlin assumes control over the NTV oppositional television station
By Vladimir Volkov and Stanislav Smolin, World Socialist Web Site, 21 April 2001 [Archives]
The battle over the fate of Russia's largest non-governmental media conglomerate Media-Most-which was created and controlled by the former business "oligarch" Vladimir Gusinsky, who has been in Spain since last autumn-reached its climax in the first half of April.

Interview with Grigory Yavlinsky.
SBS television, Australia. Dateline programme, April 11, 2001[Archives]
Since Vladimir Putin became President of Russia, the Kremlin has clashed frequently with a media company that exposed, among other things, the government`s handling of the war in Chechnya. A year later, though, the government is very close to winning the battle against its media critic.

Testing Putin on Iran
By WILLIAM SAFIRE, The New York Times, May 23, 2002
WASHINGTON - Thirteen days after Sept. 11 Russia's president, Vladimir Putin, met with 21 leaders from the Duma and the Presidium of the State Council to determine Russia's response to America's war on terror.

Putin's Foreign Policy a Private Affair
By Gregory Feifer, Staff Writer, The Moscow Times, April 2, 2002
Unlike with President Vladimir Putin's domestic policies, which are usually ascribed to one or another group of advisers within the corridors of power, the genesis of foreign policy is a murky affair.

Opening the Door to Europe
By Grigory Yavlinsky, The Moscow Times, May 22, 2002.
After Sept. 11, there was an abrupt shift in Russia's foreign policy. Despite the course that was still being pursued last summer, symbolized by Kim Jong Il's trip across Russia in an armored train, and in the face of the opinion of the so-called political elite, President Vladimir Putin unreservedly supported the United States in its fight with Osama bin Laden's terrorists and the Taliban.

Waste Storage Case
The Moscow Times, May 22, 2002.
MOSCOW (AP) -- The appeals board of the Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld an earlier decision blocking the import of nuclear waste from Hungary for storage in Russia.

The YABLOKO party: the treaty on a reduction in offensive weapons meets new security requirements and the new spirit of cooperation between Russia and the USA
Press Release, May 15, 2002
The Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO supports the treaty on a reduction in offensive weapons that has to be signed during the Russian-American summit in Moscow on May 23-26, 2002.

The Yabloko faction: anti-constitutional ban on transactions with agricultural land in Russia should be abolished
Press Release, May 16, 2002
During the voting in the State Duma of the Russian Federation (on May 16, 2002) the Yabloko faction will support two out of seven draft laws "On Transactions with Agricultural Land" prepared by the Government of the Russian Federation and deputies of the Union of Right-Wing Forces (SPS) faction.

Government to Review Budget 2002
Vedomosti, May 16, 2002
The government is seeking money to raise wages for the military and state employees in the provinces. On May 15, Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov announced that the federal budget for 2002 would be revised, and unplanned expenditures would be covered through additional revenues. Duma deputies do not believe this and say that this is impossible to do without sequestration, at least a small amount for the time being.

Vice-Speaker of the State Duma Vladimir Lukin: "We should wait and see how Kiselyov's river will flow in Primakov's banks."
Rosbalt, April 11, 2002
Ekaterinburg, April 11. Deputy Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation of the RF, member of the Yabloko faction, Vladimir Lukin said that he was glad that the TV6 team would be able to work again "under new banners". He made this statement at a press conference in Ekaterinburg, where he went to support the regional branch of YABLOKO at the elections to the Legislative Assembly in Sverdlovsk Region scheduled for April 14, 2002. However, according to Lukin, "we should wait and see how Kiselyov's river will flow in Primakov's banks."

Meeting Against Imports of Spent Nuclear Fuel into Russia.
Photo Gallery, Moscow, Kaluzhskaya square, Photos by Olga Sweitzer and Sergei Loktionov, April 26, 2002

Putin, Bush discuss summit arrangements, trade problems, regional conflicts
By JUDITH INGRAM, Associated Press Writer, May 7, 2002
MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President George W. Bush on Tuesday discussed their upcoming summit, trade issues and cooperation in international affairs including the regulation of regional conflicts, the Kremlin press service said.

Spring army conscription
By Zarina Khisamova, Expert, April 29, 2002
The authorities and the media continue vehement battles about alternative civil service, the terms of army service, and cancellation of student conscription deferral. The heaviest of the spring campaigns is under way, spring conscription. Military enlistment registration offices and the police are chasing young men who are avoiding their "sacred duty". Simultaneously, operations to round up deserters - those whom enlistment offices manage to force to don a uniform and take up an automatic weapon - are being carried out in different places. Now, these young men have something to fight with the authorities.

Lawmaker Held on Kickback Charge
By Vladimir Kovalyev, St Peterburg Times, April 26, 2002
The St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly was the scene of charges of political prosecution on Wednesday, following the Tuesday arrest of Union of Right Forces (SPS) lawmaker Alexei Kovalyov. The City Prosecutor's Office has charged Kovalyov with misappropriation of government funds, maintaining that he organized a kickback scheme to bilk the city budget of 2 billion rubles ($390,000) in 1996.

Sergei Ivanenko warns against attempts to influence the course of the President of Russia
Press Release, April 24, 2002
Deputy Head of the Yabloko faction in the State Duma Sergei Ivanenko thinks that some "influential political forces" are testing out public opinion via different political structures, including that of the Duma, as they plan to make changes to the Constitution of the Russian Federation.