Press Release, 23.03.2014

On 21 March, YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin participated in a panel discussion “Russia, Ukraine, Europe: Today and Tomorrow”, organized by Austrian liberal party NEOS – The New Austria and Liberal Forum. The event was held at the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna.

The discussion was attended by Ambassador Hans Winkler, Director, Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, Ambassador Thierry Bechert, Permanent EU Representative to the OSCE, Childerik Schaapveld, Head of Office, Council of Europe Office in Vienna, Angelika Mlinar, President, NEOS Lab, Vice-President NEOS – Das neue Österreich und Liberales Forum, Anna Iarotska, Spokesperson, Association Democratic Ukraine. The discussion was moderated by Georg Hoffmann-Ostenhof.

YABLOKO leader made ​​a report devoted to the analysis of the situation in Ukraine. He explained YABLOKO’s position on this issue: YABLOKO did not support Vladimir Putin’s neo-imperialist policies targeted at the reunification of Russians throughout the territory of the former Soviet Union.

“Vladimir Putin received an oligarchic economy as Boris Yeltsin’s legacy, and in the past 14 years built his own system of political domination on this basis, and in this system he is the major and indispensable element. Vladimir Putin connects his perspectives only with the existence of this system and only as its head,” Sergei Mitrokhin noted in the beginning of his speech. Mitrokhin also said that all of Russia’s economic and political elite extracting their huge profits out of the country’s economy and at the expense of the rest of the population of Russia, make their plans accordingly.

“The main task of Vladimir Putin is maintain the system, protect it from the threats of “orange revolutions” that swept similar authoritarian and oligarchic regimes in other countries”, Sergei Mitrokhin said.

According to Mitrokhin, the policies of “tightening of the screws” were held in order to strengthen this system, this was manifest in curbing of civil rights and liberties and conducting selective reprisals against the opposition. Simultaneously there emerged an ideology stipulating that Russia did not have to develop within the framework of the Western civilization but had its own way.

Replacing the European vector of development for the “Eurasian” vector Vladimir Putin got rid of the need to justify his policies before the West.

“The regime needs confrontation with the West and with the outside world in general for its domestic use as a means of mobilization of support and suppression of the opposition,” Sergei Mitrokhin said.

The revolution in Ukraine was viewed by the Russian authorities as a challenge to the regime as Ukraine along with other CIS countries was regarded by the regime as its sphere of influence.

“Unfortunately, the errors of the Ukrainian opposition were a great gift for the Russian leadership, and then for the new government in Kiev. The main mistake was the alliance with the nationalists. Using this pretext the system decided to take revenge, and that was the main reason for the annexation of Crimea,” Sergei Mitrokhin said.

YABLOKO leader also noted that the annexation of Crimea was as important for Vladimir Putin’s system of self-assertion, as the invasion in Hungary in 1956 and in Czechoslovakia in 1968 for the Soviet system. Simultaneously this could allow the system to achieve more in mobilizing support and suppressing the opposition.

Mitrokhin also said that Vladimir Putin had openly stated that under his leadership Russia would implement the imperial project: reunion of Russians within the territory of the former USSR.

“In pursuit of this goal he is going to transform Russia into a rogue state and openly violates international law.

Apparently, the experience of North Korea, Cuba and other countries has taught him that international isolation is an inevitable condition for maintaining the power,” YABLOKO leader said.

According to Mitrokhin, the “imperial project” could be fraught with enormous risks and therefore could not last long.

He said that external sources had already added to the internal sources of instability of Putin’s system (unfair distribution of property and income).

“First of all there is a risk of destabilization in different directions. The most unpleasant thing here is associated with the reaction of the Islamic world and Islamic extremists on the situation with the Crimean Tatars. The second risk is enormous expenditures of the budget. The third is sanctions, which are double-edged as of their nature. Putin will use them for further injection of anti-Western hysteria and suppression of opposition,” Sergei Mitrokhin said.

YABLOKO leader also noted that all of these risks could lead to a disaster in the country. Therefore, the task of a responsible opposition would be to peacefully change the regime as soon as its inevitable weakening begins. But revolutionary violence would be absolutely unacceptable here, as its consequences may be much worse in Russia than presently in Ukraine.

Answering a journalists’ question about what Russia would expect to get from the West, Sergei Mitrokhin said, “Russia is expecting not sanctions that would hit common people and the opposition, but is counting on an extremely honest position, based on European values ​​and free from double standards”.

“And also we are waiting for effective assistance in building a stable democracy in Ukraine. The sooner the Russian citizens will see progress of democracy in Ukraine, the more chances our country will have to return to the European vector of development, without which it has no future,” he concluded.