Press Release, 5.03.2022

Based on Lev Shlosberg’s Telegram channel

Photo: Police “inspecting” the office of the Pskov Yabloko

On March 5, the police came to the office of the Pskov branch of Yabloko to conduct an “inspection” and seize computer equipment as part of the administrative proceedings initiated today, on 5 March, under the latest “anti-war” Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (“public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in order to protect the interests of the Russian Federation and its citizens, to maintain international peace and security”), which was adopted and entered into force yesterday.

The basis for these actions was a denunciation by a 37-year-old citizen G. living in Pskov, who allegedly received a letter on 28 February to her e-mail box from noreply@jobsora.com with calls to hold and participate in illegal public events in the context of military events in Ukraine.

On 5 March, this citizen G. confided to a police officer that an anti-state group of the Yabloko party “led by Shlosberg, Kuzmin and Kamalyagin” was operating in Pskov, and she associated sending of this letter with this anti-state group. The lady asked the police to take action in accordance with the law.

The police conducted a search in the office of the Pskov Yabloko for four hours.

Lev Shlosberg, head of the Pskov branch of Yabloko says, “We demanded a copy of the decision to initiate the administrative proceedings. They were not in the hands of the police, we got a refusal.  We demanded that an employee of Centre E [Centre for Counteracting Extremism] arrive on site, as the one capable of inspecting computers on site, and guaranteed access and any time limit for this work in my presence. We were refused. We filed a petition to claim the ownership of the jobsora.com server and the address created on it, so that only after the decision were made to inspect or confiscate the equipment. We were refused. At the same time, the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs stated that they themselves did not have the necessary knowledge to inspect the equipment, nor could they invite a specialist, although within 30 minutes they were leaving the office for phone calls and consultations”.

“At the same time, our specialists established in three clicks that the jobsora.com domain is hosted in San Francisco, it is impossible to receive a letter from this address and at the same time claim that it was sent from some office, some building or city. The domain MX records, which are responsible for the transport of Google mail, cannot be the basis for determining the location of the mailing.

In total: all ten computers, an external drive, a camera cartridge (we had to help the police to take it out, otherwise they wanted to seize the whole device) and two video cameras, an accountant’s flash drive (personal) and filming inside the office for security purposes were seized. The policemen were very much alarmed by the presence of a surveillance camera in the office. What can be planted on our computers after the “inspection” by the Centre E, I cannot even imagine,” Shlosberg notes.

Following the results of a provocation with the participation of a vigilant citizen, the Yabloko office in Pskov have no computers left, the Pskov Yabloko team has not a single workplace left. Lev Shlosberg says that probably this was also the purpose of the “inspection”.

“Thank you everyone who has worried about us. This is the Pskov Yabloko and such is life now. Wishing all well and peace,” Lev Shlosberg writes.

Source: https://t.me/shlosberg