Press Release, 20.10.2023

Yabloko representatives in the regional legislative assemblies and city and municipal councils, discussed during the three-day forum the specifics of work of an opposition deputy, shared their experiences and analysed the most popular cases encountered in the practices of Yabloko deputies. The forum was organised by the Centre for Work with Local Self-Government Deputies of the Yabloko Party. The discussion was moderated by the head of the Centre, Irina Kopkina, and the deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, Boris Vishnevsky. The speakers of the forum were Sergei Mitrokhin, Maxim Kruglov and Yevgeniy Bunimovich (the Moscow City Duma); Emilia Slabunova (the Legislative Assembly of Karelia); Anna Cherepanova (the City Duma of Veliky Novgorod); Tatyana Pasman (the Pskov City Duma); Dmitry Rybakov (the Petrozavodsk City Council); Yevgeny Kaverzin and Vasily Eryomin (the Tomsk City Duma), as well as deputies from different municipalities.

Grigory Yavlinsky, Chairman of the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko, addressed the Forum with a welcoming speech. He noted the courage of Yabloko deputies to represent the party in government and local self-government in the current conditions. After that, for 1.5 hours, Yavlinsky answered questions from the audience.

“Our country is undergoing a difficult period. Our grandfathers and our parents survived such periods and preserved Russia. I want us to preserve Russia and pave the way for the future,” Yavlinsky said in conclusion.

Chairman of the Yabloko Party Nikolai Rybakov noted in his speech that one of the reasons for the developments in Russian and the world was the erosion out of politics of the values that people realised after the Second World War – the values of human life, dignity, and human freedom. “Now the politics of values is giving way to the politics of “interests.” And today, more than ever, it is poisoned by total hypocrisy,” Nikolai Rybakov noted.

According to Rybakov, despite different external circumstances, political “trends” and pressure, Yabloko has been doing important work for our country for 30 years – bringing values to politics. Yabloko leader expressed his certainty that the times of supreme value of human life, respect for human rights and freedoms would definitely come, sooner or later.

“In the meantime, we need to do what we can and should: help people, talk to them, inform and educate them, improve our competence, and form a team for the future. And the most important thing is not to allow yourself and others to give up,” Rybakov concluded.

The Forum also discussed the peculiarities of the work of an opposition deputy in the current conditions, as well as the specifics of the implementation of social policies, environmental protection, landscaping and improvement of municipal areas, and the exercise of deputies’ control and financial powers.

Commenting on the results of the three-day work of the Forum of Deputies, the head of the Yabloko Centre for Work with Local Self-Government Deputies, Irina Kopkina, said that the participants agreed to draw up a plan for delivering lectures for not only deputies, but also Yabloko supporters, activists and party members.

“The Centre proposes, without competing with other party structures, to focus on the creation and implementation of project-based systematic education of deputies, party supporters and party members under the programmes that could be compared with advanced training programmes in educational institutions of higher professional education ” Kopkina said.

The Centre plans to develop two or three educational programmes per academic year.

The Center identified the need to increase the competence of deputies in the field of public finances (their formation, expenditure, control over expenditure). In this regard, it is proposed to develop and launch the “Public Finances” programme with the participation of Yabloko’s and nonpartisan experts. The goal of such a programme should be to obtain and systematise basic knowledge in the field of public law, as well as financial and fiscal law.

The second programme targeting a wider range of listeners, could be the “Local Community Development Technologies” aimed at developing the skills in establishing interaction between different participants in public (socio-political) processes, developing partnerships to solve social problems, and gaining skills in working with citizens. The programme will be useful both for deputies and their assistants, as well as for heads of regional and local organisations, believes Irina Kopkina.

In the near future, the Centre will develop a more detailed curriculum.