Press Release, 24.06.2025

Photo by Yevgeny Biyatov, RIA Novosti

The formal reason for the refusal of the Prefecture of Central Administrative District of Moscow to approve Yabloko pickets was the “current epidemiological situation”. The authorities continue to refer to the decree of the Mayor of Moscow dated 8 June, 2020, which maintains the previously introduced ban on holding mass events due to the spread of the coronavirus epidemic.

One of the initiators of the pickets, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Yabloko, Kirill Goncharov, notes that the reason for the ban on street actions is the authorities’ fear of the expression of the will of citizens:

“By installing a bas-relief without taking into account the opinion of city residents, the authorities exclude any discussion and impose a moratorium on any public discontent with the rehabilitation of Stalinism in the centre of Moscow,” Goncharov emphasises.

Yabloko lawyers are preparing a complaint to court regarding the refusal of the Prefecture of the Central Administrative District to hold a series of pickets for the dismantling of a bas-relief with Joseph Stalin in the vestibule of a Moscow metro station.

It should be noted that on 19 June, the authorised representative of the Moscow branch of Yabloko, Maxim Kruglov, and the Deputy Chairman of the Moscow branch of the party, Kirill Goncharov, filed, in accordance with the law, a notice to the Prefecture of the plans to hold a series of pickets. The applicants for street actions were also the Chairman of the party, Nikolai Rybakov, and members of Moscow Yabloko.

The series of pickets was planned within the framework of the campaign against the placement of a bas-relief with Stalin in the centre of Moscow, which was launched on the Yabloko party’s website: thousands of citizens from all over the country signed a petition from Yabloko for the dismantling of the bas-relief, hundreds of signatures on paper were collected  in the party’s offices in Moscow and the regions.

Yabloko also intends to challenge in court the decrees of the Moscow Mayor of 5 March (No 12-UM) and 8 June (No 68-UM) 2020, which allow the authorities to refuse applicants permission to hold any politically unfavorable mass events. The lawsuit by Nikolai Rybakov and Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Yabloko Andrei Morev notes that the epidemiological situation associated with the new coronavirus infection has normalised, COVID has become a seasonal disease, so all restrictions must be lifted. The Moscow City Court refused to accept Yabloko’s lawsuit. The party will appeal the decision to the First Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction.