Press Release, 05.03.2024

Photo by zebra.tv

Chairman of the Yabloko party Nikolai Rybakov, Director of the Yabloko Anti-Corruption Policy Centre Alexei Karnaukhov and the initiative group ChelovekPrav call on deputies of the State Duma, members of the Federation Council, as well as regional and municipal deputies to disclose their income and property declarations for 2023 and make them public. A web-site has been created where Russian citizens can sign the relevant petition.

The collection of signatures will last two weeks with the possibility of extension. Then individual appeals will be sent on behalf of Nikolai Rybakov and Alexey Karnaukhov to each deputy and senator along with a list of citizens who signed the petition.

The petition runs that “public trust in government directly depends on the openness and due diligence of deputies at all levels. This is the key to preventing unjust enrichment and building a fair system of governance. The income and property declaration system is an important tool for increasing the transparency and accountability of government bodies and combating corruption”.

It should be noted that since 1 March, 2023, deputies and senators are allowed by law not to publish their income declarations: data on their income and property will be posted in an anonymised form, and regional and municipal deputies may not declare their income at all if deputy activity is not their main activity. In addition, according to the decree of the President of the Russian Federation of 29 December, 2022, income declarations are not published on the official web-sites of government agencies and are not transmitted to the media for detailed study.

“The publication of income declarations had been one of the real achievements in the openness of government in our country. But it was cancelled. However, deputies and senators have the right to voluntarily disclose their income. If their work is truly transparent and legal, they have nothing to hide,” Nikolai Rybakov emphasised.