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March 28, 2003

Information campaign against YABLOKO and Yavlinsky

Special for the YABLOKO web-site

In January-March 2003 the media conducted a campaign to defame and discredit an alternative plan for reforming the housing and communal services sector developed by YABLOKO. The television channel, Ren-TV, newspapers such as Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Tribuna, Noviye Izvestiya and 30 regional newspapers were employed in the campaign.

The campaign was launched with the publication in Rossiyskaya Gazeta (on January 29, 2003) of an article entitled "Grigory and a Miracle", which was sharply critical of YABLOKO's proposals. Since February 2003, 30 regional papers have published the following articles: "Yavlinsky's Plan: How to Freeze the Country" and "PR on the Frost", where the text was exactly the same as the article in Rossiyskaya Gazeta. The conclusions in the campaign were backed by the opinions of "independent" experts who were trying to compare YABLOKO's position with the "well-balanced" position of the Union of Right-Wing Forces (SPS).

The second wave of such publications took place after the second reading of the draft law to reform the housing and communal services sector (on March 21, 2003) and was called "Red YABLOKO - Yavlinsky Fights for the Communists' Votes." Criticising the position of the YABLOKO party on the reforms in the housing and communal sector and RAO UES, the article stated that the party and its leader were populists exploiting communist ideas. The article was reproduced in the same 30 regions and also in a number of national newspapers.

According to independent experts, about USD170,000 was spent on the campaign

 

See also:

State Duma elections 2003

March 28, 2003

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