Grigory Yavlinsky said that the main objective of all the
opposition forces in Russia should be radical change in the
socio-political system rather than simply a replacement of
top officials. He said this during a meeting with representatives
of the European Parliament's Liberal Group (ALDE). The sides
discussed the political situation in Russia after the presidential
elections and prospects for further development.
The meeting was held on March 5 in YABLOKOs office. Guy
Verhofstadt, leader of the liberals in the European Parliament
and ex Prime Minister of Belgium, Renaldas Vaisbrodas, Political
Adviser, ALDE, Sergei Mitrokhin, YABLOKO Chairman, Galina
Mikhalyova, Executive Secretary of the Political Council and
head of the Gender faction and Olga Radayeva, International
Secretary.
Sergei Mitrokhin said that the current situation in Russia
was complicated noting the authorities' attempts to provoke
a conflict in the society. He also marked that it was especially
important to prevent the radicalisation of various segments
of the opposition without yielding to possible provocations.
According to Grigory Yavlinsky, violence during the protest
actions can through the opposition movement ten years back.
He also stressed that YABLOKO had called on leaders of the
protest movements to do everything so that to avoid violence
and bloodshed during the coming protests.
Speaking about the present political system in Russia, Guy
Verhofstadt said that for him the turning point as regards
his attitude to Vladimir Putin and his system was the murder
of Anna Politkovskaya. " I realized then that Russia
pursuing the authoritarian model," he said.
According to Yavlinsky, many elements of the existing system,
which he called "crony capitalism, did not function,
which made this system unreformable in principle. "It
is important that its collapse should not end with bloodshed,"
Grigory Yavlinsky said. "In this situation, the task
of YABLOKO is to push the system to the evolutionary path.
That is why we participated in the elections and worked with
tens of thousands of observers," he added.
"Europeans should honestly say that our system does
not comply with the European system of democratic values.
This is a development of Boris Yeltsins system and further
development of the fraud that started in 1996, Yavlinsky
said. "But Europeans preferred not to talk about it then,
laying more emphasis on the person of Boris Yeltsin as the
guarantor of the democratic way of Russias development,
Guy Verhofstadt noted. "Today many people in the West
say that Russians simply do not fit into democracy. I believe
that this is not true. Russians understand the importance
of democratic procedures, law and democratic values, but these
values imply a mature civil society, which in Russia has not
developed yet," said the leader of the European liberals.
See also:
Russia-EU
Relations
Presidential
Elections 2012
State Duma
Elections 2011
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