Press Release, 3.04.2024

Photo: A sign in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg for MP of the Legislative Assembly Boris Vishnevsky with a “foreign agent” marking

Boris Vishnevsky, Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party and an MP of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, told reporters at a briefing in the Legislative Assembly how he viewed his inclusion in the list of “foreign agents” and why he intended to appeal the decision of the Ministry of Justice in court:

1. The procedure for entering people in the register of foreign agents in Russia is fundamentally different from all other countries where there are such laws, since it is extrajudicial. This creates direct basis for the arbitrariness of the authorities.

2. The status of foreign agents in Russia, since December 2022, has been in no way connected with foreign funding or participation in the work of foreign organisations and states. Now it is only a reaction to a public political stance.

3. I am a Russian deputy and a Russian politician, I represent the interests only of my voters, citizens of Russia. I do not represent the interests of anyone else. I am not under any external influence; I am influenced only by the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

4. I perceive the decision of the Ministry of Justice as an insult not only to me, but also to my voters, and I will prove its complete lawlessness in court, even realising in what condition the Russian courts are today.

This will be a trial not only in defence of my rights and my good name, but also in defence of the rights of my voters, residents of St. Petersburg, who, in large numbers, have been writing me letters, calling me, leaving comments on social media, and expressing outrage at the decision of the Ministry of Justice.

5. My political activities are absolutely open. I have worked and am working for my constituents, who entrusted me with representing them. And I will continue to do this.

Today the first meeting of the Legislative Assembly took place, at which Vishnevsky participated already in a “foreign agent” status. The speaker of parliament indicated Vishnevsky’s new status during the roll call and when giving him the floor. “Foreign agent” markings have been already applied to the sign on the door of Vishnevsky’s office in the Legislative Assembly.

It should be noted that Boris Vishnevsky became the fifth member of the Yabloko party included by the Ministry of Justice in the register of “foreign agents”. Previously, a “foreign agent” status was assigned to Svetlana Gannushkina, human rights defender and a member of the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko, Lev Shlosberg, Deputy Chairman of Yabloko, Dmitry Muratov, journalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and Andrei Morev, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow branch of Yabloko.

BORIS VISHNEVSKY

is Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko Party, member of the Yabloko Federal Political Committee and Bureau, and an MP of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg