Press Release, 5.09.2024

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The Bureau of the St. Petersburg branch Yabloko calls not to vote for the current Governor Alexander Beglov and his sparring partners in the gubernatorial elections in September.

“In the five years that Alexander Beglov has been Governor of St. Petersburg, our city has ceased to be a “window to Europe” and has not become a city that is comfortable to live in,” runs the statement of the St.Petersburg Yabloko Bureau.

The Bureau of the regional branch of Yabloko provides evidence for multiple failures of the Governor.

“Governor Alexander Beglov has failed to solve the key problem – transportation. He promised to open ten metro stations in these five years, but only three have opened, and they were actually ready by the beginning of his gubernatorial term.

The reform of ground transportation has solved some of the problems, but created many new ones. If earlier it was possible to get somewhere using one type of transport, now sometimes one has to make one or two transfers. And in areas of new mass development, the transportation problem is even more acute.

In five years, Governor Alexander Beglov has still not been able to organise winter cleaning of the city from snow.

Payments for housing and utilities have increased significantly, especially for major repairs (by 2.5 times) and for garbage removal (by over 3 times), while the quality of services has not improved.

The construction of social infrastructure, although it has accelerated in recent years, still lags behind the needs of city residents. First of all, this concerns areas of mass development on the outskirts of the city, where the administration issues permits for the construction of housing, without ensuring the necessary construction of schools, kindergartens and clinics.

The destruction of the historical centre and the demolition of historical buildings in the interests of developers continues, while the administration lobbies for changes in legislation that would facilitate further demolition.

A law on the “comprehensive development of territories” introduced by the governor was adopted, threatening the forced eviction of hundreds of thousands of residents of “Khrushchev-era” buildings.

The very beginning of the term of Alexander Beglov, then acting governor, was marked by the persecution of participants in public protests. Subsequently, the administration pursued a policy of obstructing freedom of assembly, a policy of banning – under threat of detention and punishment of participants – almost all public events where they planned to express a critical attitude towards the activities of the city or federal authorities.

Starting from March 2020 and to this day, despite the end of the COVID epidemic, a complete ban on public events, introduced under the pretext of anti-COVID measures, still continues to be in effect. This does not prevent numerous pro-government actions from being held, but leads to the detention of participants of even single pickets.

Over the course of two and a half years of the special military operation, the Governor and his administration have allocated dozens of billions of roubles from the city budget for related purposes, including works in Mariupol. Reports on the expenditure of these funds are hidden even from deputies of the city parliament. At the same time, obviously insufficient budget funds are allocated to solve such city problems as the resettlement of communal apartments, the construction of the subway, major repairs of the housing stock, and the provision of housing to those in need.

An analysis of the promises made by Alexander Beglov in his 2019 election programme shows that many of them have not been fulfilled,” the Bureau of St.Peterbrug Yabloko concludes and states that all this allows to access the work by Alexander Beglov on the the post of Governor of St.Peterburg as unsatisfactory.

The Bureau also notes that the Yabloko candidate on the post of Governor – Boris Vishnevsky, – who was declared a “foreign agent”, was unable to participate in the gubernatorial elections. The other possible competitors of Alexander Beglov were either eliminated through the “municipal filter” or refused to participate themselves, preferring to express their loyalty to the governor. The alleged “rivals” of Alexander Beglov, who were eventually included in the ballot, are obviously playing the role of his sparring partners.

The St. Petersburg branch of the Yabloko party states that it does not support either Alexander Beglov or other candidates registered in the gubernatorial elections.

St. Petersburg needs fair and competitive elections, and not the “electoral procedure” that contributes to the governor not bearing real responsibility to residents, which is why key city problems are not being resolved.

The St. Petersburg branch of the Yabloko party appeals to the residents of St. Petersburg not to vote for Alexander Beglov and his sparring partners in the September elections.