Yabloko’s call on the Russian society

Decision by the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko No 150 of 25.01.2022, published on 27.01.2022

Photo: Peace March, Moscow, 2014. Photo by Anatoly Zhdanov / Kommersant

The Federal Political Committee of the Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko calls on the Russian society and the Russian authorities under no circumstances to allow a war with Ukraine and stop preparations for it. We consider this an absolutely urgent, key task for society and the state. Only this currently corresponds to the fundamental national interests of Russia.

The war will be a national catastrophe for our country and a personal tragedy for millions of citizens. It will be a mass murder of people, a terrible crime that will lead not only to the complete isolation of the country, but will also turn Russia into a symbol of aggression, crimes against humanity, security and international peace for decades. War in any form, if it occurs, will mean Russia’s withdrawal from all forms of international cooperation.

The whipping up of military hysteria in our country and the transformation of preparations for war into the centre of Russia’s internal political life is already leading to negative shifts in everyday life, public consciousness, and political practice. Unprecedented arrogant disregard for human rights, freedom and human lives, daily open threats to journalists, human rights activists, all those who disagree – all this is a direct consequence of preparations for war and a pattern of behaviour that, if current trends continue, will intensify.

The recognition at the state level of the regimes operating in parts of the territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, proposed by the Communist Party faction in the State Duma, will accelerate transformation of the whole Russia into a territory of lawlessness, banditism, and death squads.

Pushing millions of people into war by the communists and other Duma factions (primarily United Russia, who propose to start supplying lethal weapons to the self-proclaimed the “Donetsk People’s Republic” and the “Lugansk People’s Republic”) shows that they regard people as raw materials for the state that has become detached from society and serves the interests of the absolute minority. In fact, this is driving a nation to suicide, a crime without a statute of limitations, for which all those who pushed the country and people to this will have to answer.

The prevention of war is not only the task of the authorities, since it is directly related to the opposition of society and public consciousness to the onset of modern Stalinism, which becomes the basis, the core of modern Russian totalitarianism.

Past September, the citizens of Russia had the opportunity to speak out against the war with Ukraine in the elections of deputies to the State Duma of Russia. But after voting for the “parties of war”, on the one hand, – for United Russia headed by [Defence Minister] Sergei Shoigu and [Foreign Minister] Sergei Lavrov, and for the communists-Stalinists, the supporters of [writer] Prilepin who fought in Donbass and the national populists from the LDPR party, on the other hand, the vector of the state policy of the Russian Federation becomes increasingly more neo-Bolshevik – both in the domestic and foreign policy.

In the 2021 [parliamentary] election campaign the majority of Russian society ignored the most important danger – the danger of war, which was already evident on the eve of the elections and the prevention of which was one of the main topics of the Yabloko election campaign – and made a false choice between the “parties of war” preferring it to a real choice for peace, against war, against political repression and against strengthening of authoritarianism in the country.

A substantive and meaningful position of the active part of society, based on humanistic values and aimed at preserving peace would be very important now. However, this is still not the case, since it is not possible to overcome populist tendencies leading to the destruction of society: from throwing people “into the furnace” of leader’s ambitions up to voting for the Stalinists and Donbass militants in the parliamentary elections.

We believe that serious changes in foreign policy are impossible without changing the domestic political situation in the country. The Yabloko party categorically disagrees with Putin’s political course and believes that this course has led Russia to an impasse. In particular, the foundations of this destructive and dead-end policy were laid down in the amendments to the Russian Constitution, adopted on 1 July, 2020 for the indefinite preservation of the regime of personal power.

The Russian state propaganda has been constantly conducting information attacks preparing for the war, a massive wave of hatred is directed against Ukraine, which has swept almost all Russian media. In the summer Vladimir Putin and in the fall of last year Dmitry Medvedev published conceptual articles, which actually declare Russia’s right to interfere in the affairs of Ukraine up to the use of force, the Ukrainian state was declared dependent or completely failed, the relic concept of limited sovereignty is updated, the territory of Ukraine is considered as a potential battlefield for Russia with the US and the West.

Militarisation of public consciousness, the search for enemies, external and internal, and hybrid war are used as tools for solving current problems of the government and satisfying its ambitions. Bankrupt politicians, well-paid “political scientists”, endlessly and infinitely lying media that shamelessly and thoughtlessly use the topic of war for their own selfish purposes. The reason for today’s crisis is not at all in NATO and its proposed expansion, but in the deep crisis of the Russian government and its break with human reality.

Russia’s foreign policy which is inadequate to reality is not only tearing the post-Soviet space apart, pushing its closest neighbours away from Russia, but also leads to the effect exactly opposite to the desired: now the question of Finland and Sweden joining NATO, which remained outside military blocs even during the years of the Cold War, is being seriously raised.

The decline in the level of professionalism of Russian foreign policy and diplomacy is also worthy of note, it is another clear evidence of the degradation of state institutions. In fact, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has become a ministry of propaganda, and not an agency pursuing professional and effective foreign policies. Therefore, almost all negotiations now end in deliberate and programmed failure.

In such circumstances, public diplomacy, a direct dialogue between Russian and Ukrainian civil societies, aimed at forcing politicians to follow the interests of citizens, stopping preparations for war and recognising the unconditional value of peace, can become the most important contribution to establishing peace between Russia and Ukraine.

The role of civil society in foreign policy, and especially in achieving mutual understanding, is not only underestimated, but in principle is not perceived as an important part of the peace process by almost all parties to the conflict.

In conditions of a dangerous crisis, the Yabloko Party considers it useful to prepare a programme and develop a plan for such public negotiations, so that to facilitate their start. However, we emphasis that at the same time for the success of such negotiations, it is necessary that the politicians in power do their job: confirm the absolute unacceptability of war and be ready to sit down at the negotiating table.

The Yabloko party considers it important to organise a direct political dialogue between society and the Russian authorities, primarily with President Putin, about the future of the country, its state structure, and domestic and foreign policies. The Yabloko party is ready to present to the Russian society and the President of Russia a programme of action to save the country and prevent war.

We are firmly convinced that saving Russia and ensuring its security means, first of all, respecting human rights and freedoms, building democratic foundations of the state, protecting and respecting freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, freedom of assembly, the existence of an independent court and fair elections, and the legislative prohibition of political repression, guarantees of property rights, protection of the rights of minorities, openness to international cooperation, and peaceful foreign policies.

Grigory Yavlinsky,

Chairman of the Yabloko Federal Political Committee