Yabloko demands that the Moscow Mayor immediately lift the anti-COVID ban on public actions
Press Release, 10.05.2023
The Yabloko faction in the Moscow City Duma, sent a letter to the Mayor’s Office, signed by Maxim Kruglov, head of the Yabloko faction. On 5 May, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the end of the coronavirus pandemic.
Maxim Kruglov recalls in his letter to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, that last summer Yabloko already sent a letter to the Moscow Mayor demanding that the ban on holding public events in Moscow be lifted. It was important for the Yabloko party so that candidates for Moscow municipal deputies in the elections in 2022 could be able to conduct a full-fledged election campaign: put cubes with placards, hold rallies and single pickets.
However, Vasily Oleinik, Deputy Head of the Department of Regional Security and Anti-Corruption, in his response letter, referred to the pandemic declared by WHO. “It is premature to completely cancel anti-epidemiological restrictions, as evidenced by international experience,” the official said and suggested waiting for the WHO to announce the end of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, a number of anti-COVID restrictions were lifted in Moscow and other Russian regions in the spring of 2022. In particular, Muscovites no longer had to wear protective masks, the mandatory home regime for people over 60 was canceled, and remote work became optional. In addition, major entertainment events have been held in the capital over the past year, and dozens of thousands of people were allowed to gather there without masks and keeping a distance.
Moscow City Duma deputy from Yabloko Maxim Kruglov, commenting on the letter of the Yabloko faction to Mayor Sobyanin demanding the lifting of anti-COVID bans, expressed his hope that the bans would be lifted rather than simply renamed, for example, into anti-terror.
“Also, my colleagues and myself will consider the possibility of filing a notice for holding a rally. Unfortunately, there are a lot of topics for such a rally: cancellation of electronic military draft papers, termination of arrests of citizens for expressing their stance, amnesty… and peace,” Maxim Kruglov wrote in his Telegram channel.
is a member of the Federal Bureau of the Yabloko Party,
Deputy Chairman of the Moscow branch of Yabloko.
Head of the Yabloko faction in the Moscow City Duma. Candidate of Political Sciences.
Posted: May 11th, 2023 under Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech, Governance, Human Rights, The Yabloko faction in the Moscow City Duma, Yabloko's Regional Branches, Без рубрики.