Press Release, 25.07.2014

Youth YABLOKO activists in Yekaterinburg and Nizhny Novgorod who conducted one-person picketing against sparking a war in Ukraine were attacked by the passersby.

Kirill Petlin

Youth YABLOKO leader in Yekaterinburg Kirill Petlin said that he had expected a negative reaction but not that negative. “On one supported me, all the passersby reacted quite aggressively”, he said.

Kirill held a placard which said:”Putin, hands off Ukraine”. One of the passersby seized the placard and tore it saying “Shall I spit you in the face?”. The police arrived, took the man aside but a few minutes later let him go.

Youth YABLOKO activists in Nizhny Novgorod Stanislav Gavrin, Vsevolod Novikov and Andrei Lubivy faced the same reaction. “For the first two minutes of picketing nothing special happened except for a couple of damnations in our address though we’ve got used to it. In less then five minutes a stranger came up, seized the placard, tore it. Everything happened so quickly that I didn’t know how to react”, said Stanislav Gavrin.

Stanislav Gavrin: “Putin, hands off Ukraine! No to policy of lie and hypocrisy “

A scuffle started between the man and the activists, the crowd surrounded them. “Two women cursed us, tore the remaining pieces of the placard and threw them to the trash can. Then a young man came up and started to snatch YABLOKO flag from my hand and threatened me”, commented Gavrin.

The young man hit Stanislav Gavrin on the face and arms. According to Youth YABLOKO activists, the man who attracted him was a nationalist, he called the activist a “kike” and said that he himself was a “pure-blood Slav”.

Alan Alikov

In Vladikavkaz the picket went well. Alan Alikov held a placard “No war with fraternal Ukraine!” According to the activist, the passersby reacted calmly.