Press Release, 3.03.2022

Photo: Artur Gaiduk, Nikolai Kuzmin and Lev Shlosberg / Photo by the Press Service of the Yabloko party

Deputies from Yabloko Artur Gaiduk (the Pskov Regional Assembly), Nikolai Kuzmin (the Assembly of Deputies of the Zavelichenskaya Volost of the Pskov District) and Lev Shlosberg, Chairman of the Pskov regional branch of the party, filed a notification of a rally for peace to the Administration of the Pskov Region and sent a corresponding request to Rospotrebnadzor (the Russian Federal State Agency for Health and Consumer Rights). The rally is scheduled for 12 March at 12:00 – 14:00 (as according to the Russian law a notification should be filed for a public action no earlier than ten days before the action) and should take place in the so-called “hyde park” in Pskov (a specially designated site for holding public actions without any permissions from the authorities).

The Pskov Yabloko team is calling a rally for a thousand citizens in Pskov “in order to express the attitude of citizens towards the decisions made by officials and the actions of the armed forces of the Russian Federation in the territory of the sovereign state of Ukraine”.

On 1 March, the organisers of the rally received a letter from Sergei Dmitriyev, head of the administration of the Pskov region. It runs that events with more than 500 participants are held taking into account the proposals (orders) of the chief state sanitary doctors of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation, therefore, on 28 February, the regional administration requested such a proposal (order) from the chief sanitary doctor of the region Alexander Nesteruk.

Commenting on the initiative, the leader of the Pskov branch of Yabloko Lev Shlosberg said, “In Russia, dozens of millions of people are against the war. These people are not represented in the Russian parliament: not a single federal MP voted against the ratification of agreements with the “Donetsk People’s Republic” and the “Luhansk People’s Republic” that provide for Russia’s military participation. It is a shame. It is a disgrace. The country lacks the institution of representation of citizens who oppose the government’s policy, Vladimir Putin’s policy, both internal and external. Therefore, the Yabloko party, as the party of peace, is initiating this rally. We are raising the issue of saving people’s lives, this is an issue of the top prority.”

It should be noted that notifications of anti-war rallies were also submitted by the Yabloko branch in St. Petersburg and Moscow. The St.Petersburg branch of Yabloko was denied the approval.