| Moscow. About 300 people took part in the meeting
against the import of spent fuel into Russia. The meeting was
held in the centre of Moscow on Kaluga square on the evening of
April 26, on the 16th anniversary of the accident at the Chernobyl
NPP. The meeting was organized by the Russian Democratic Party
Yabloko with the support of environmental and human rights organizations
as part of an All-Russian action that was held in over 50 regions.
According to the press service of Yabloko, initially a meeting
was to be held near the building of the Nuclear Ministry: however,
the prefecture of the Central administrative district of Moscow
prohibited the meeting.
The party and environmental organization activists held the flags
of Yabloko, posters, distributed agitation posters, labelled "No
to import of nuclear waste", leaflets.
Speaking at the meeting, Chairman of the Russian Democratic
Party Yabloko Grigory Yavlinsky called on everybody to "look
into the eyes of the Chernobyl residents and understand the difference
between this glance and that of the satisfied, calm officials,
who know that the waste will remain for us, our children and grandchildren,
and the money will pass to them".
"The waste is being import to be left here forever, and
today we have new evidence that demonstrates that this is the
goal of the Nuclear Ministry," added Deputy Chairman of Yabloko,
State Duma deputy Sergei Mitrokhin. "Today the protest swept
over the country: from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad". "We
shall actively work with the president to persuade him that he
is not right. We shall work with the State Duma, however, difficult
this may be. And in this struggle we count on you and your desire
to take your future into your own hands and prevent national shame
for Russia,", stress Mitrokhin.
"We are the only country that is being turned into a nuclear
waste dump," noted Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko Party and
State Duma deputy Igor Artemyev. "But fortunately we have
citizens who do not want this to happen" and are ready to
do all they can to "prevent such disasters as Chernobyl,
prevent the appearance of corrupt officials and implementation
of the nuclear waste project," he added.
"We demand that the authorities carry out the people's will
and stop bringing in nuclear waste. We demand that the experiments
on Russians should stop," declared chairman of the Committee
for Civic Control of the Yabloko Party Valery Borshev.
The following individuals also spoke at the meeting: chairman
of the Moscow Helsinki group, President of the International Helsinki
Federation Lyudmila Alexeyeva, chairman of the Movement for human
rights, co-chairman of the movement Democratic Russia Lev Ponomaryov,
head of the Youth remedial movement Andrei Yurov, representative
of Greenpeace Russia Maxim Shingarkin, councilor of the regional
meeting Andrei Pavlov, veteran of the Great Patriotic War Gennady
Izvekov, member of the Union of writers Irina Suglobova, Voronezh
regional co-ordinator of group Ecozashchita (Environmental Protection)
Alexey Kozlov, head of the public Committee for civil rights Andrei
Babushkin.
See also:
YABLOKO Against
Nuclear Waste Imports
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