Decision by the Yabloko Federal Political Committee of 6 June, 2023. Published on 8 June, 2023.

Due to the current extraordinary and tragic circumstances, the participation of the Yabloko party in the September elections of the top officials of the subjects of the federation (including the elections of the Mayor of Moscow) makes political sense only if it contributes to saving human lives, a ceasefire and start peace talks. For all the significance of regional and local problems that should have been the subject of election campaigns, under the current conditions, the future of the country does not depend on the solution of these problems, but on whether the federal policies change.

At the same time, the elections of the heads of regions are initially not free due to the barriers created by the authorities for the participation of real opposition candidates in these elections.

There are politicians in the Yabloko party who are able to get the support of residents in elections and lead the region in a quality manner, but today not all of them can participate in elections due to repressive laws and unjust decisions of the courts. The fact that it is impossible for them to participate also undermines the legitimacy of the elections.

At the same time, participation in the elections is one of the few opportunities for the Yabloko party to legally and publicly express an assessment of what is happening in the country and the world, offer an alternative to the current state policies, support like-minded people and express their aspirations in the face of growing political repression, severe censorship in the media, on the Internet, in the sphere of culture, in conditions when the constitutional rights to freedom of speech and assembly are actually being eliminated, when the campaign against “foreign agents” and “undesirable organisations” is expanding.

Given the situation in the country, the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko party emphasises the fundamental features of the election campaigns of candidates from the [Yabloko] party after 24 February, 2022.

Our main task in these elections is to publicly present a political alternative: the stance of millions of citizens who disagree with the domestic and foreign policies of Vladimir Putin, primarily in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and with the international community, as well as the attitude of the Russian state to the rights and freedoms of citizens.

Therefore, candidates nominated by the Yabloko party for the positions of heads of regions must publicly declare that their election campaign is a political demand for a change in the entire state policies of Russia in the directions presented in the programmes and decisions of the Yabloko party.

Certainly, the Yabloko party and our supporters regard the problems of the level and quality of people’s daily lives, the problems of developing education, healthcare, the social sphere, separation of business and property from government, rejection of state support for oligarchic business and transition from a resource-based to a modern high-tech economy as important. We have professionally prepared programmes to effectively address most of these issues. However, today, the problems of the quality and living standards of people cannot be solved without a ceasefire and finding a peaceful diplomatic way out of the current situation.

Now our country is critically in need of a new policy: a policy of saving human lives, stopping the escalation and concluding a ceasefire agreement, a full-scale exchange of prisoners and the bodies of the dead, stopping nuclear war propaganda, striving to resolve disagreements and contradictions between countries exclusively by peaceful political means.

The fate of not only each region of our country, but literally every person depends on the solution of these key political issues.

The public political stand of the Yabloko candidates bases on the decisions of the party congresses, the Memorandum of the party, the decisions and statements of the Federal Political Committee. Party candidates share all the risks and responsibilities associated with such a stance.

Saving human lives, inalienable human rights and freedoms, achieving and maintaining peace are the basic values of the Yabloko party and the meaning of its existence and activities.

Grigory Yavlinsky,

Chairman of the Federal Political Committee,

Yabloko

Grigory Yavlinsky

is Chairman of the Federal Political Committee of the Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko, Vice President of Liberal International,

PhD in Economics,

Professor of the National Research University Higher School of Economics.