Press Release, 17.02.2021

Photo: The Boris Nemtsov March in Moscow in 2018 / Photo by the Press Service of the Yabloko party

UPD. Applications for a rally have been submitted also in Tula, Cheboksary and Novosibirsk, thus, the number of cities where rallies can take place increased to 22.

Actions in memory of Boris Nemtsov, organised by the regional branches of the Yabloko party, can take place in 19 cities of Russia. In two more cities, local authorities have already refused to give a permission to the organisers.

To date, applications for rallies and pickets on the day of the murder of Boris Nemtsov on 27 February have been submitted in eleven cities: Barnaul, Vladivostok, Yekaterinburg, Ivanovo, Kemerovo, Magnitogorsk, Novgorod, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Pskov, Smolensk, and Yaroslavl.

It is planned to submit applications in eight more cities in the coming days: Voronezh, Nizhny Novgorod, Omsk, Oryol, Rostov-on-Don, Sochi, Tomsk, and Ulan-Ude.

In Rostov-on-Don, the organisers of the action, including Irina Safronova, Chair of the regional branch of Yabloko, have already been refused. However, the party plans to submit another application.

In addition, refusals were received in Arkhangelsk and Chelyabinsk. In Chelyabinsk, Yabloko will appeal the refusal in court.

Bans on street actions in connection with the COVID-19 epidemic are still in force in most regions of Russia. In view of this, the organisers of the Moscow action in memory of Boris Nemtsov, including Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov, did not apply for the traditional march, but called on the Moscow Mayor’s Office not to bar citizens from laying flowers at the place of the politician’s murder on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge.

A similar appeal was sent to the Governor of St. Petersburg. The laying of flowers in memory of Nemtsov should take place by the Solovetsky Stone in Troitskaya Square. On behalf of Yabloko, the appeal to the Governor was signed by Boris Vishnevsky, Deputy Chairman of the party and MP of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly.

Earlier, Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov appealed to Russian Public Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov with a demand to cancel the ban on street actions in those regions where restrictions on other mass events (cultural, sports, etc.) were lifted.