Press release, 22.06.2016

On the 75th anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union the leaders and activists of YABLOKO participated in the 1,418 Candles per Each Day of the War action commemorating the beginning of the Great Patriotic War (the date is commemorated in Russia as the Memory and Grievance Day).

“These 1,418 days changed, overthrew the lives of each family, the life of our country and the whole world. These 1,418 days will never vanish from our memory. We carry this pain, this sorrow. We cherish the memory of the fallen. We are thankful to those who secured the victory,” YABLOKO Chair Emilia Slabunova said at the memorial ceremony.

“Our people paid an enormous price for victory and freedom. There is no greater responsibility and no greater duty than our understanding [of what happened] and our steady work on maintenance of peace, honour and dignity of our country,” Chair of YABLOKO Federal Political Committee Grigory Yavlinsky said.

He also added that the state had failed to solve the vital problems of the people who had been ready to give up everything for our freedom. “There are a lot of loud demonstrations, a lot of big words but many of the living veterans have not received housing so far, they still do not have a complete access to medical aid, they still live in poverty,” Yavlinsky said.

The 1,418 Candles per Each Day of the War has become traditional for the YABLOKO party and has been held in Moscow since 2007. Party activists and Muscovites come to the 1941 Tomb in Victory Park to commemorate the victims of the war.