Press Release, 26.05.2021

Photo: Kazan/ Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Residents of 53 Russian cities will receive the Yabloko party’s newspaper, timed to coincide with the launch of the election campaign. By 15 June, Yabloko plans to distribute 1.5 million newspapers.

This issue of the newspaper is devoted to the most urgent topics: the pandemics, the economic crisis, the consequences of changing the Constitution, Russia’s so-called garbage reform, and Yabloko’s actions in these fields.

The geography of the campaign covers the whole country – from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok. Moreover, newspapers will be received not only by residents of regional centres, but also in other large cities. For example, in the Arkhangelsk region the paper will be sent to Arkhandelsk and Severodvinsk, in the Kaluga region – to Kaluga and Obninsk, in the Chelyabinsk region – to Chelyabinsk, Zlatoust, Kopeysk, Magnitogorsk and Miass. Since 24 May, Yabloko activists have been distrinuting newspapers in the most crowded streets and squares, and near public transport stops.

Photo: Chelyabinsk/ Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

The authorities of 25 cities under different pretexts did not allow Yabloko to hold pickets using information cubes. Thus, the administrations of Arkhangelsk, Vladivostok, Vologda, Vyborg, Irkutsk, Kemerovo, Kostroma, Krasnoyarsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Omsk, Oryol, Samara, Stavropol, Tambov, Ulan-Ude, Ufa, Cheboksary and Chelyabinsk referred to the restrictions associated with the coronavirus pandemic when declining Yabloko applications for campaign pickets.

In Rostov-on-Don, Taganrog, Khanty-Mansiysk, Chita, Shakhty and Yaroslavl, the reasons for refusal were formal violations allegedly made by party representatives when submitting applications.

Photo: St.Petersburg/ Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Nevertheless, Yabloko’s activists will distribute newspapers in these cities without using campaign cubes.

In addition, members of the Saratov branch of Yabloko filed a lawsuit against the unlawful decision of the city administration of Saratov, which did not give a permission to the regional branch of the party for picketing and distributing newspapers in the streets of the city.

ABOUT THE NEWSPAPER

The special issue of the Yabloko Rossii (Yabloko of Russia) newspaper consists of eight pages. The front page contains the appeal by Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov to Russian citizens to support Yabloko in elections of different levels. “This year, changes should begin in our country. The voice of free people must be heard from a small village to the country’s parliament. Our future is in our hands!” Rybakov writes.

The second and third pages are devoted to the analysis of how the actions of the Russian government influenced the spread of the coronavirus and its social consequences. The underfunding of healthcare, the “optimization” of the social sphere [i.e. cuts on the maintenance of the social sector] and the lack of professionalism of the authorities became the main factors in the growth of the crisis and brought our country to the first place in the world in terms of the number of victims from COVID-19 per capita, the article runs. Yabloko publishes its plan to support citizens, entrepreneurs and health workers.

The second spread of the newspaper is devoted to the “zeroing” of the state and law, which occurred as a result of Vladimir Putin’s amendments to the Constitution. The article contains an analysis of why Russians have now even less rights, while officials and President Putin have even more power.

The next spread is devoted to the first results of the so-called “garbage reform”, which only led to an increase in the number of landfills.

The last page contains brief reports of the party for 2020: what Yabloko did to combat the consequences of the pandemic, how much money was saved by Yabloko to the budget due to the party anti-corruption activities, what initiatives were submitted by the party’s deputies in regional and municipal assemblies throughout the country, and many other things.