Press Release, 4.03.2026

Photo: Screening of “And the Ship Sails On” / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

On 3 March, the Moscow office of the Yabloko party hosted the première of a documentary film by Yulia Mavrina, “And the Ship Sails On” — about Yuri Shchekochikhin, a legend of Russian journalism, a politician, and a member of the Yabloko faction in the State Duma (1995–2003). The screenplay was written by Nadezhda Azhgikhina, Yuri Shchekochikhin’s widow, writer and journalist.

The film brought together dozens of Shchekochikhin’s friends, fellow journalists — from Novaya Gazeta and the profession at large, — theatre colleagues, Yabloko friends and colleagues, political opponents from the State Duma, his students, and younger politicians and reporters who had never met him but cherished his legacy. The room was packed: people perched on tables along the walls, stood in the aisles, squeezed together and were glad to have made it in.

The hall was dark, lit only by the lectern to the side of the screen where the film was to be shown. From the screen, Yuri Shchekochikhin looked out at everyone — smiling, thoughtful, warm and entirely without reproach. As only he could.

Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov stepped up to the lectern. He opened the screening and reminded those gathered of the purpose behind every party event — particularly over the past four years — to help people hold on to their humanity and bring peace closer.

“Yuri Shchekochikhin had a profoundly peacemaking idea, which sadly was never realised in his lifetime,” Nikolai Rybakov said. “He wanted to bring together on a single ship the children of parents at war with one another and give them the chance to talk. To sail and converse. To make friends and come up with something new. So that wars, conflicts, or killing would never happen again. Perhaps we will manage to realise that idea one day. Perhaps our gatherings will bring peace closer and help ensure that people do not kill one another.”

The Yabloko leader then gave the floor to Nadezhda Azhgikhina, writer, journalist, and screenwriter of “And the Ship Sails On”, a title inspired by Shchekochikhin’s idea. She began by congratulating friends and colleagues on the occasion: 3 March is World Writer’s Day. PEN International, the human rights organisation uniting writers, poets, and journalists, marks 3 March as the Day of Writers for Peace, the professional holiday of all those who write about non-violence and humanism, Nadezhda Azgikhina reminded the audience.

“He [Yuri Shchekochikhin] believed that every person could become better, that society could become better, if helped to do so,” she said. “I think that this film will help us all to fill ourselves, perhaps, with some of the hope and faith we so need — faith that even the impossible can be accomplished.”