Statement by the YABLOKO party, 12.05.2014

Tomorrow the State Duma will conduct the first reading of an amendment to the Constitution which will become already a second amendment adopted this year. President will get the right to arbitrarily, without any explanation, appoint ten per cent of the Federation Council members.

The amendment submitted to the parliament by all the three pseudo-opposition parties of the State Duma has been already approved by the corresponding State Duma committee and supported by the ruling party.

Pro-Kremlin commentators say that this is a “common European practice”. In particular, they refer to the Italian Constitution which envisages that president can appoint five senators (1.5 per cent of the total number of senators) who have “glorified the Motherland by their outstanding achievements in the social, academic, artistic and literary fields”.

The amendments proposed today do not even envisage any “special merits” of perspective senators-appointees. Obviously, their main “merit” will be their unlimited personal loyalty to the President.

If one intends to refer to an Italian experience in this respect, then, obviously, it should be the ancient period of Roman Emperor Caligula who declared his horse a senator.

If the amendment is adopted in its present wording, it will eliminate the possibility of direct elections to the Federation Council, despite the fact that such an idea [of direct elections] was supported by President Medvedev and President Putin in different periods.

Appointment by the President of a part of the members of the upper chamber of the Federal Assembly will only further increase his powers that have been immense without this. At the same time the status of the upper house of parliament which has to represent the interests of the Russian regions will be decreased. Therefore, another significant step towards the destruction of Russian federalism will be made.

One can not fail to the cynicism and hypocrisy in the fact that supporting the demand of federalisation of Ukraine the Russian government conducts the policies targeted at defederalization of its own country.

After the adoption of amendments envisaging an extension of the presidential term and elimination of the Arbitration Court of the Russian Federation, another reactionary change in the Constitution of the Russian Federation is submitted.

Before our eyes, the Basic Law is ceasing to comply with its Article 1: “Russia is a democratic federal law-governed state with a republican form of governing”.

We are urging the President and State Duma to come to senses and stop turning the Constitution into a document which citizens of Russia will be ashamed of before residents of other modern states.

Sergei Mitrokhin,

YABLOKO Chairman