[home page][map of the server][news of the server][forums][publications][Yabloko's Views]

Rosbalt, August 1, 2003

Sergei Mitrokhin: Anatoli Chubais ordered the "YABLOKO without Yavlinsky press campaign

Moscow, August 1, 2003. In an interview with Rosbalt correspondent, Deputy Head of the YABLOKO party Sergei Mitrokhin said that the press conference "YABLOKO without Yavlinsky" conducted in Moscow on Thursday represented a "banal black PR campaign ". "We are investigating who ordered this campaign," said Mitrokhin.

Mitrokhin sees a connection between the campaign and the forthcoming gubernatorial elections in St. Petersburg. YABLOKO's candidate Mikhail Amosov will run for governor. At the press conference on Thursday the leader of the movement "YABLOKO without Yavlinsky", Igor Morozov, deputy for one of the municipal councils of St. Petersburg stated that people voting for YABLOKO "don't like Grigory Yavlinsky's zest for power and populism and this pushes away the electorate." That is why the party "cannot overcome the five per cent barrier in the State Duma elections". The initiators of the movement stated that Yavlinsky should leave the party; whereas Boldyrev, Grachov, Dmitriyeva, Travkin, Mizulina, Zadornov and Igrunov, who had left the party, should return to YABLOKO. The founders of the movement confirmed their intention to collect signatures in the Russian regions to make Yavlinsky leave the post of party leader.

Mitrokhin is inclined to think that "the head of the RAO UES Anatoli Chubais personally ordered this campaign and Mr. Gozman and Trapeznikov are the executives". According to Mitrokhin "they choose unprincipled quasipolitical individuals to carry out the campaign." It is quite characteristic, noted Mitrokhin, that the "action represents hack-work." Mr. Morozov has never been connected to YABLOKO, stated Mitrokhin. He also pointed out to the journalists that the organisers of this provocation failed to find a single YABLOKO member who would agree to take their money, which confirms the strength of the party ranks." Such actions, according to Mitrokhin, only benefit YABLOKO. "We shall speak about their fight against us, the huge amounts of money involved and the influential parties behind this campaign."

Commenting on the statement of the organisers of the press conference that the pretext for the campaign was YABLOKO's involvement in the YUKOS conflict. Mitrokhin explained that "here we are dealing simply with hack-like provocation. Consequently I see no point in analysing the fantasies of absolutely unprofessional people."

 

See also:

State Duma elections 2003

Rosbalt, August 1, 2003

[home page][map of the server][news of the server][forums][publications][Yabloko's Views]

english@yabloko.ru
Project Director: Vyacheslav Erohin e-mail: admin@yabloko.ru Director: Olga Radayeva, e-mail: english@yabloko.ru
Administrator: Vlad Smirnov, e-mail: vladislav.smirnov@yabloko.ru