Press Release, 20.09.2021

Photo: Nikolai Rybakov (in the centre) / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

On 20 September, Yabloko held a press conference in the party headquarters in Moscow. Yabloko leaders summed up the results of the elections to the State Duma.

Nikolai Ryabkov, Yabloko Chairman and leader of the Yabloko list of candidates to the State Duma, thank all those who voted for the party and helped in the campaign – all those who “supported the alternative presented by Yabloko for the future development of our country – a free modern country in which human rights, a person, his/her freedoms are respected, in which a person is given the opportunity to develop without leaving the country, feeling protected and confident of the future. Even according to the official data of the [Central] Electoral Commission, which are now being published, there are hundreds of thousands of such people. In fact, there are certainly millions of such citizens.”

“I want to once again thank everyone who came to the elections to support us. I want to thank our candidates, who withstood the gigantic pressure on them. At first, they tried not to register our candidates in the elections, removed them from the elections [if they were registered], including such well-known candidates as Lev Shlosberg. He was removed from the elections [on the party list] in Pskov and [in a single mandate constituency in] Moscow. Dozens of candidates were removed from the elections. Nevertheless, we did participate and gave the opportunity to our country and our citizens to vote for the alternative policies. I would like to thank the thousands of volunteers who worked during this election campaign, met with people, talked and persuaded voters. This is a huge job.

When I met with our headquarters, with our teams in the regions, I saw thousands of people eager to change our country for the better.

I would like to express gratitude to the journalists who objectively covered the election campaign, and how we prepared for it, because this is our common cause, our common country.”

Rybakov also added that “we were aware that elections in modern Russia are not fair and free. Nevertheless, we participated in this election campaign in order to lay the foundation for the future, make the team for the future and enable our citizens to see this future together with Yabloko.”

Yabloko Chairman also said that these elections were unprecedented as of the scope of violations in geography and in terms of the type of violations that took place. “What can we say if in the second city of the country, St. Petersburg, the counting of votes is still taking place at the voting for the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, and many hours later (it will be 20 hours soon) after the closure of polling stations, only 30% of the protocols were entered [into the system], where our electoral commissions members are removed from the polling stations, [Boris Vishnevsky] the Deputy Chairman of the party, the leader of the list to the Legislative Assembly, is removed from the polling station, and he was attacked. You have ssen and you know all this.

And today, speaking on the First Channel, I asked my opponents from [the ruling] United Russia [party] a question to which they had no answer. If everything is so good with you and you enjoy so much popular support, why are there so many violations? What happened that you need so many violations to win? If there were such support, there would have been no need to make such violations, there would have been no need to do a three-day voting under a pretext that it was done in order not to spread the coronavirus, while on the Friday morning, queues hundreds of meters long lined up by polling stations, and which disappeared later. And there was no such [huge] voting at these polling stations in the following days.

Because people want change. These changes have not happened now. It is obvious. We will continue to work. We will fight now for those votes that were cast for us at the polling stations, and we will defend our right to a modern, fair and free country. Thank you all very much.”

Grigory Yavlinsky, Yabloko founder and Chairman of the Federal Political Committee of the party, noted that “Yabloko proposed in the elections a position and programme on all key issues of the country’s development. Yabloko was the only party that proposed an alternative”.

Photo: Grigory Yavlinsky / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Yavlinsky also said that according to the official results, the ruling United Russia party got 72% of the vote. That is, it once again got a constitutional majority; whereas in total there are 100% of Putin’s supporters in the parliament, while Yabloko does not support Vladimir Putin’s policies and states that these policies provide no prospects for the country. He also noted that Yabloko’s program is not suitable for those who determine the outcome of the elections, so those who determine the results of the election are the problem, not the voters. Yavlinsky noted that, according to Yabloko estimates, the party got about 6-7% this time.

Speaking about the new Duma, Yavlinsky said that “today the State Duma is a union of United Russia and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. This will determine the policies. This means that everything that is happening today, all these cases with “foreign agents”, “undesirable organisations”, arrests, threats, repressions, bans on public events, persecution of journalists – all this will remain and intensify.

In economics, this means state capitalism. State capitalism means a very high level of state ownership in the economy. Such an economy is ineffective. The main ally of United Russia (the communists) will still talk about the need to create the State Planning Committee [like that in the USSR]. Well, it is not difficult to create a state planning committee under state capitalism. It is adapted for this. Just establish it – and that’s it. Vladimir Lenin [leader of the October revolution of 1917] also said that this is a simple thing.

But this means a rise in prices. This means a drop in incomes, that have been falling for almost ten years, since 2013. This means a decrease in the living standards. They also have gigantic projects worth hundreds of billions of roubles. This means higher taxes. At least it is clear that they need to raise 400 billion roubles. Now they will make a decision in the fall on raising taxes.”

“There is another topic – the suppression of the middle class. The middle class in Russia is another informally undesirable element. But we are a party that largely represents the interests of the middle class, but not only of that middle class, which is only doctors and teachers (because these are state employees). We want the middle class in Russia to be people (in addition to teachers, doctors, whom we love, respect and are ready to represent their interests, and this is very important) who earn their own bread, in the sense that they create their own businesses. Because this is the development of the economy. All the so-called startups also refer here. The most initiative people emerge here. These people want to get involved in politics, but not in the form of invented parties that came out from nowhere in the form of the “New People” party, but in those parties that express their interests.” Yavlinsky noted that protection of such people is a matter of principle for Yabloko. He also added that “the suppression of the middle class is another trend that will now be very active. Because this trend clashes with what the communists usually do”.

“Another topic is the topic of foreign policy. All these parties are absolute allies in terms of foreign policy. And the meaning of foreign policy in recent years has been isolation [of Russia], the war in Syria (participation in the civil war in Syria), and moreover, constant escalation of a violent clash with Ukraine and suppression of protests in Belarus. This is our foreign policy, that is, fencing off from the whole world. We believe that this trend towards a possible war with Ukraine is a very dangerous direction. And now, I think, there will be not a single deputy in the State Duma who will oppose this.”

According to Yavlinsky, such policies are in store for the Russia with the new Duma. But will not give up its position and work further. “Because we love our people and love our country. And we will never leave it. We hope that justice and freedom will prevail. Russia sooner or later (better sooner) will become a free and prosperous country. I repeat once again: thank you all very much for your support. We value and cherish it.”