Statement by the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, 2.03.2022

Photo: Boris Vishnevsky and Alexander Shishlov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Every day mass detentions of participants in peaceful anti-war protests take place in St. Petersburg. They are kept in the police for many hours, they are not allowed lawyers, they are punished with fines and arrests.

In our country, where calls to unleash an aggressive war have rightly been declared a criminal offense (Article 354 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), today they punish [people] not for such calls constantly broadcasted by central television [channels], but for anti-war protest. We are categorically against this.

During the “special operation”, as the authorities demand to call the hostilities in Ukraine, many people have already died on both sides. Official data on losses among the Russian military are classified by a presidential decree, albeit it will not be possible to hide this truth. Mothers of servicemen who have no connection with them and are worried about their fate have already begun contacting us. Yesterday we urged the Minister of Defence not only to disclose the data on losses among the military personnel from St. Petersburg, but also to initiate a change in the presidential decree on classifying such data.

The stance of the Yabloko party is known: an immediate cessation of hostilities in the territory of Ukraine and peace negotiations.

We believe that the cause of the tragedy is the Russian authorities’ lies, cruelty and absolute indifference to people.

We consider this war to be the gravest crime. It is contrary to the national interests of Russia and destroys the future of Russia.

We are sure that millions of people in Russia are against the war.

Today, the anti-war position in Russia is represented not only by the Yabloko party and our voters.

It is shared by a huge number of people, including well-known people of culture and science, medicine and education, sports and business. Many of them support the authorities in other matters – but they are also against the war and call to end it.

In St. Petersburg, Yabloko receives appeals from citizens who ask to undertake all possible measures to end the war. We will do everything in our power for this, we continue the all-Russian civil campaign “No to War”, we call on everyone to join the appeal against the war on the [Yabloko] party web-site, where over 80,000 people have already signed up, and to other anti-war initiatives, we are urging [all] not to be silent!

No to war!

Boris Vishnevsky, Alexander Shishlov,

deputies of the Yabloko faction of the Legislative Assembly of St.Peterburg