| YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin made a
report on situation in Russia at the meeting of Liberal International
Executive Committee which is taking place in Cape Town, South
African Republic today.
Mitrokhin began his report with bad news. He told about an
attack on civil activist Konstantin Fetisov and journalist
Oleg Kashin. “Such crimes become more frequent, as they go
unpunished,” stressed YABLOKO’s leader.
According to Mitrokhin, “in words Russian leaders advocate
the rule of law and democracy. But their deeds strikingly
differ from their declarations”. “The Russian authorities
are unable to ensure implementation of laws in the country.
But they widely practice arbitrary use of law as an instrument
for protection of their political and economic interests,”
he noted.
Regional elections are falsified, which demonstrates insecurity
of the ruling party’s position. “High popularity ratings of
Putin and Medvedev and very low rates of public trust to the
state and public institutes demonstrate instability of our
political system,” Mitrokhin said.
Violations of the citizens’ right to freedom of assembly
have become everyday practices in Russia, moreover, the new
version of the secret services law envisages even tougher
sanctions against all the dissenting against the present policies
of the Russian government.
According to Mitrokhin, one of the key Russia’s problems
today is corruption, while anti-corruption campaigns turn
into “pumping of the federal budget money into the bureaucrats’
pockets”.
“That is why we are saying that a political reform should
be an integral part of economic modernisation. Because it
is impossible to conduct modernisation without division of
authorities and real fight against corruption,” Sergei Mitrokhin
said. He also added that the Russian President understands
modernisation only as “acceleration of scientific and technological
development”.
YABLOKO’s leader also expressed his view that “Russia’s problems
are rooted not only in 70 years of the communist regime, also
in the large mistakes made by the pseudo liberals who were
ruling the state in early 1990s”. In these conditions he sees
the goal of YABLOKO in changing of the oligarchic system,
rather than in replacement only of Putin or Medvedev in power.
Such steps, according to Mitrokhin, should include “separation
of business from the power, independent justice, the rule
of law and implementation in practice of the main liberal
principle - equal opportunities for all the citizens of the
country”.
Liberal International (LI) is an international political
organisation of liberal parties. LI 185th Executive Committee
is held in Cape Town on November 13-14. The Executive Committee
heard the report of the Secretariat on the performance in
2010 in promoting liberal ideas in the world and adopted resolutions
on ensuring freedom of speech and human rights. Country reports,
in addition to Russia, were made by representatives of the
United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Congo and Tunisia.
See also:
Country
report on Russia by Sergei Mitrokhin. Executive Committee
of Liberal International
Cape Town, November 13, 2010
YABLOKO
obtains a permission from the Moscow Mayor’s office to conduct
a rally against political terror. Press Release, November
9, 2010.
On
the attack against journalist Oleg Kashin. Statement by the
Federal Council of the YABLOKO party, November 6, 2010
Freedom
of Speech
Human
Rights
Freedom
of Assembly
Elections
YABLOKO
as a member of Liberal International
| 