Press Release, 26.12.2025

Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

On 25 December, a New Year Charity Fair was held at the Yabloko party office in Moscow, featuring various inclusive NGOs whose mission is to help people with different disabilities adapt and socialise.

Throughout the year, in special workshops opened by foundations and charitable organisations, the NGOs’ beneficiaries have been crafting, drawing, sewing, modelling, gluing and constructing – often overcoming personal challenges and applying tremendous effort. Some of these creations were presented at Yabloko’s Fair on 25 December, where guests could purchase unique New Year gifts and thereby support the non-profit organisations and their beneficiaries.

Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Such fairs have become a Yabloko tradition – this year the event was held for the third time. Year on year, more partners and friends join in, and the items on display are not only exhibited at the party office but also sold online throughout the fair evening.

Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

This year, 17 foundations and organisations participated, with the list published in advance. Among them, incidentally, were not only those helping people, but also those caring for animals – the proceeds from sales of their branded products are intended to purchase food, medicines and everything necessary for the four-legged residents of various shelters.

Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

A particular highlight of this year’s fair programme was the musical accompaniment – professional saxophonists Gabriele Grasso and Dmitry Lebedev performed for guests and participants throughout the evening.

Photo: Dmitry Lebedev / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

But that was not all. Within Yabloko’s fair tradition lies another pleasant feature of these evenings – the obligatory refreshments from party Chairman Nikolai Rybakov. Specifically, his signature mulled wine and sbiten, which Nikolai Rybakov served to all comers. Over the five-hour event, he personally prepared more than 70 litres of delicious beverages.

Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

A separate section of the fair was called “Rybakov and Friends” – here they not only served drinks but also sold handicrafts made by the Chairman’s friends and party supporters: painted plaster horses, candle Christmas trees, tree decorations and much more.

Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

For three years now, Yabloko’s New Year Charity Fair has become a place where a genuine miracle occurs in the most human, even tangible sense, Nikolai Rybakov emphasises:

“Dozens of NGOs come to us, bring their beneficiaries and exhibit their work at the fair. Then hundreds of guests not only buy these items as gifts for loved ones, but spend the whole evening talking with representatives of foundations and workshops, beginning new stories of friendship and charity, feeling that the world is bigger, kinder and better than it may sometimes seem. Yesterday I heard ‘thank you, you help pull people out of depression’, ‘I am here for the first time, but it feels like I’m among family’, and ‘every gift bought here has a special New Year story’. In these words lies part of yesterday’s miracle. People were able to meet, to feel happiness and joy, despite everything happening around all of us and in each of our lives.

Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Our New Year fairs are about supporting foundations, but above all they are about people. They are about those for whom creativity and work help with adaptation and socialisation. About those for whom the result of tremendous effort ultimately brings celebration. About adults and children, about the child within every adult. And I thank with all my heart everyone who became part of our shared miracle on the eve of 2026. Thank you!”

Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

The list of participants in Yabloko’s 2025 fair was as follows:
· UlitkaART – creative studio for young people with autism spectrum disorder.
· Lavka Radostey – charitable fund supporting social initiatives and helping people in difficult life situations.
· Centre Rafael – association of specialists supporting therapeutic pedagogy and social therapy for children, teenagers and adults with developmental disabilities.
· Kotishchevo – shelter for homeless cats.
· Yablochko – regional public organisation promoting social rehabilitation of people with disabilities.
· Babushkin Klubok – charitable organisation helping pensioners and people with disabilities.
· Artel Blazhennykh – manufacturing enterprise created for vocational training and supported employment of people with disabilities.
· Yaseneva Polyana – charitable organisation helping children and adults with deafblindness, various degrees of hearing and vision impairments combined with other severe health conditions.
· Kotospas – fund for protecting the rights and interests of urban cats.
· Bez Barierov – regional public fund for legal protection and support of people with disabilities.
· Prostranstvo Obshcheniya – centre helping adults and children with developmental disorders.
· Kust – inclusive workshop for people with mental disabilities.
· Nasledie Severa – charitable fund for preservation of cultural heritage.
· Yedinenie – charitable fund helping people with mental disabilities.
· Raznye Zerna – inclusive café where people with mental disabilities work.

The following projects were represented online only:
· Naivno Ochen – project for socialisation and employment of young people with autism and other mental disabilities.
· Vtoroe Dykhanie – environmental organisation engaged in collection, sorting, redistribution and recycling of clothing at any stage of its life.
· Yedinenie – charitable fund helping people with mental disabilities.