Is
Modernisation in Russia Possible? Interview
with Grigory Yavlinsky and Boris Titov by Yury Pronko,
"The Real Time" programme, Radio Finam, May
12, 2010
Photo: Alexander Yefimov and Yabloko activists in Volgograd / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
On the 80th anniversary of the victory over the Hitler’s army in the Battle of the Volga, leaders and activists of the Yabloko party paid tribute to the memory of the heroes and victims of the Second World War and laid flowers at the eternal flame and memorial stele on Fallen Fighters Square in Volgograd and at the stele in Alexander Garden in Moscow. The ceremonies were attended by Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov, Deputy Chairman Ivan Bolshakov, members of the Federal Bureau Galina Boldyreva, Kirill Goncharov and Alexander Yefimov.
Photo: Emilia Slabunova / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Today the Petrozavodsk City Court was examining, for four and a half hours, the case of an administrative offense by Emilia Slabunova, head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of Karelia, a member of the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko and Honored Teacher of the Russian Federation. Slabunova was accused of “discrediting the army” (Article 20.3.3 Part 1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses), because at a meeting of the Karelian Legislative Assembly she called for spending money on the education of children, and not on military operations. The Judge denied all eight defence motions and set a fine of 30,000 roubles as punishment for the work of Emilia Slabunova in the Parliament of Karelia in the interests of voters.
In April of this year, the term of service of the current Commissioner for Human Rights for the Yaroslavl region expires. Sergei Balabayev, a member of the Yaroslavl Yabloko Bureau, has been listed among the three contenders for the post of Ombudsman for Yaroslavl. Balabayev’s candidacy was proposed by a group of deputies of the Yaroslavl Regional Duma. Till 13 February, the regional Duma will accept recommendations on candidates from public organisations.
Photo: Anna Cherepanova / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Anna Cherepanova, a deputy of the Duma of Novgorod from Yabloko, sent inquiries to the Public Prosecutor General of Russia Igor Krasnov, the head of the Federal Penitentiary Service Arkady Gostev and the Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova in defence of political prisoner Andrei Pivovarov.
Photo: Viktor Shalyakin / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
On 30 January, the Novgorod District Court satisfied the claims Viktor Shalyakin, head of the local branch of the Yabloko party in Novgorod, against the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Ministry of Finance of Russia for compensation of his expenses connected with the trial and moral damage.
Photo: Cheboksary / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Actions of writing letters to Russian political prisoners were held at the central and regional offices of the Yabloko party past week and at the beginning of this week. Several hundred postcards and envelopes will go to penal colonies and pre-trial detention centres to Mikhail Afanasyev, Alexei Gorinov, Vladimir Kara-Murza, Ilya Yashin, Alexei Navalny, Alexander Skochilenko, Andrei Boyarshinov, Lilia Chanysheva, Mikhail Krieger, Olga Smirnova, Viktoria Petrova, Natalia Filonova, Sergei Mikhailov and many other politicians, journalists and civic activists who are unjustly deprived of their freedom and are waiting for news and words of support “from the outside”.
Photo: The Exhibition / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The police seized 19 paintings about peace by artist and activist Yelena Osipova. The paintings were exhibited at the office of the St. Petersburg branch of Yabloko at Spalernaya 13.
On Wednesday, 1 February, police officers came to the Yabloko office, cordoned off the premises and said that they had received a call about an alleged bomb threat. Then they took all Yabloko activists out into the street and did not let them in for several hours. The work of the party office was paralysed, and the candidates nominated by Yabloko for the by-elections of municipal deputies in the Krasnoselsky and Yuzhno-Primorsky municipal districts were unable to complete the preparation of documents for submission to the electoral commissions.
Police came to the office of the regional branch of the Yabloko party in St. Petersburg at Shpalernaya 13, on Wednesday, 1 February. Police officers cordoned off the premises and said that they had received a call about a bomb threat.
Photo: Yelena Osipova at the opening of her exhibition in the office of the St.Petersburg branch of Yabloko / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
An exhibition of anti-war paintings and posters by the famous artist and activist Yelena Andreyevna Osipova opened at the office of the St. Petersburg branch of the Yabloko party on Tuesday, 31 January. In addition, on this day visitors also participated in the monthly action of writing letters to Russian political prisoners.
Photo: Emilia Slabunova / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
On 2 February, the Petrozavodsk City Court will hold a hearing on the case of an administrative offense allegedly committed by Emilia Slabunova, head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of Karelia and a member of the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko. She is accused of “discrediting the army”. The hearing will start at 10:30.
St.Petersburg branch of Yabloko will host an exhibition of posters by the famous St. Petersburg artist and civil activist Yelena Osipova. The opening of the exhibition will take place on Tuesday, 31 January, at 18.30.
On 27 January, on the anniversary of lifting of the siege of Leningrad, the leaders of the Yabloko party laid flowers at the Piskarevsky Memorial Cemetery in St. Petersburg. Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov, Deputy Chairman of Yabloko Boris Vishnevsky, Coordinator of the Federal Political Committee Alexander Shishlov, member of the Federal Political Committee Lev Shlosberg, member of the Yabloko Bureau Anatoly Golov and other members of the party came to honour the memory of those who died in the besieged city.
Photo: Deforestation near Savin Navolok Park, Petrozavodsk / Photo by the Karelian Yabloko
The Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia at its meeting on 26 January rejected Yabloko’s bill on the return of the mandatory environmental impact assessment of natural reserves in the region. Earlier, a similar bill by Yabloko, supported by five academicians of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Moscow Department of Natural Resources, was blocked by the pro-government majority in the Moscow City Duma.
On 26 January , and action of writing letters to political prisoners was held at the central office of the Yabloko party in Moscow. This time 311 letters were written to 63 political prisoners. The actions lasted three hours. More than 60 people were present, they wrote words of support for political prisoners, told their news to those kept in pre-trial detention centers and penal colonies, those who were not afraid to speak up and were under investigation for this, those who have been separated from relatives and friends.
Photo: Valery Borshchyov, Co-Chairman of the Moscow Helsinki Group / Photo by Kristina Kormilitsyna, Kommersant
The Moscow City Court, on false “grounds” made up by the Ministry of Justice, decided to liquidate the oldest human rights organisation in Russia – the Moscow Helsinki Group, established in 1976. Co-Chairman of the Moscow Helsinki Group has been Valery Borshchyov, a member of the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko.
Photo by the Press Service of the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia
The parliamentary pro-government majority of the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia rejected the draft federal initiative of the Yabloko faction envisaging criminal penalties for propaganda of nuclear war. The meeting of the Karelian Legislative Assembly was held on 26 January.
Photo: Yaroslav Shcherbakov / Photo from the personal archive
On 25 January, the Seventh Court of Cassation dismissed the complaint of the Chelyabinsk Mayor’s Office against the decision of the regional court. The decision remains in force: the refusal of the city administration to the Chairman of the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko Yaroslav Shcherbakov to hold a rally “For Peace” on 1 May, 2022, was unlawful.
On 25 January, the Yabloko Party University will host a lecture “What will journalism be like in Russia and in the world?” by Nadezhda Azhgikhina, Ph.D. in Philology, member of the Executive Committee of Article 19, an international non-profit organisation protecting and promoting freedom of expression and freedom of information throughout the world, and Director of the PEN-Moscow Association.
Photo by the Press Service of the Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg
The parliamentary majority of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg excluded from the agenda the draft federal initiative of the Yabloko faction envisaging criminal penalties for propaganda of nuclear war. This happened at the plenary meeting on Wednesday, 25 January. 35 out of 46 deputies present in the parliament voted to exclude the bill from the agenda.
This week and early next week, the Yabloko party’s central office and offices of the regional branches of the party will host the first in 2023 actions of writing letters to Russian political prisoners. Yabloko traditionally invites all Russian citizens who would like to send a kind words and wishes to those unjustly deprived of their liberty to join the actions. Yabloko will take care of sending letters by mail. Also Yabloko has written a short guide on how to write a letter for a political prisoner so that the letter is not stopped by censors.
