Press Release, 7.03.2023

Photo: Yelena Panfilova, founder of Transparency International – Russia, and Anton Pominov, ex-Director of the organisation / Photo by Gennady Gulyaev, Kommersant

The Anti-Corruption Policy Centre of the Yabloko party expresses its unconditional support for colleagues from Transparency International – Russia and protests against the recognition of the international movement Transparency International as an “undesirable organisation” in Russia. This decision by the Public Prosecutor’s Office is devoid of common sense and maintains the chain of insane repression against civil society in Russia, said Alexei Karnaukhov, Director of the Anti-Corruption Policy Centre of the Yabloko party.

Transparency International is the most important anti-corruption non-profit organisation in the world. The Russian branch of Transparency has made a colossal contribution to the creation of the main institutions for combating corruption in Russia. Such institutions include declaration of property and income for public servants, public procurement tenders, investigation of conflicts of interests, protection of applicants and many others.

Devoid of Transparaerncy’s public campaigns, educational projects and investigations, Russia would be much more intransparent and backward from the modern standards of law. The recognition of  the international organisation as “undesirable” throws us decades back into the past. Forbidding telling the truth, forbidding investigation and criticism, the system destroys itself faster than any weapon. The Yabloko Anti-Corruption Policy Centre will continue to support and interact with its Transparency colleagues in any way possible, Alexei Karnaukhov noted.