Press Release, 31.10.2026

Photo: Olga Tsepilova, Chair of the Green Russia Faction of the party, speaking / Photo by the Alexei Yablokov Readings

On 28–29 October, St. Petersburg hosted the Tenth Alexei Yablokov Readings, held in memory of Alexei Yablokov, an eminent scientist and ecologist, a Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and a member of Yabloko, who founded the party’s Green Russia Faction and was its first Chairman. Alexei Yablokov also served as Deputy Chairman of Yabloko and was a member of its Federal Political Committee from 2008 to 2017.

This year the Readings took the form of a national research and practice conference with international participation entitled “Ecology: Synergy of Science, Practice and Public Initiatives”. The sessions, held at the House of Journalists and the House of Scientists, brought together scientists, ecologists and civic activists.

Party Chairman Nikolai Rybakov spoke online at the Green Solutions session, giving a presentation on Russia’s experience of environmental solutions.

Olga Tsepilova, Chair of the Green Russia Faction of the Yabloko party, spoke about the development of the environmental movement through the lens of resolving environmental conflicts. Among the characteristic features of the 2021–2026 period, she highlighted “peaceful attempts to resist anti-environmental legislative initiatives” and “the active development of volunteering within the green movement”. In her view, environmental conflicts today arise primarily around natural sites of national and global significance, including Lake Baikal and the Lago-Naki Plateau, as well as from threats to people’s lives and health.

Yevgeny Vitishko, an ecologist from the Krasnodar Territory and a member of the Green Russia Faction, gave an online presentation on the consequences of pollution in the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and on the efforts of volunteers and the authorities to clean it up.

Yabloko’s Green Russia Faction is a co-organiser of the Readings. The participants discussed the protection of natural areas, the conservation of biodiversity, climate change and the role of public initiatives in solving environmental problems.