The YABLOKO party, the Alliance of
Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), Swedish
People's Party in Finland and the Swedish International
Liberal Centre (SILC) held in Helsinki a seminar entitled
"The Future of EU-Russia Relations: the Liberal
View".
The seminar was attended by 250 people from Russia,
Finland and other European countries - politicians,
civil society activists, political scientists, experts,
journalists and students. Representatives of Russian
non-governmental organisations (GOLOS, the Moscow
Helsinki Group), and independent press ("Novaya
Gazeta") that were subject to increasing pressure
from the authoritarian government were also invited
to the seminar.
The European Union was represented
by Carl Haglund, Minister of Defence of Finland and
leader of the Swidish People’s Party, Kristiina
Ojuland, MEP, and Nils Torvalds, MEP, Astrid Thors,
member of the Finnish Parliament and Vice-President
of ALDE and Martin Angeby, Secretary-General of the
Swedish International Liberal Centre.
Grigory Yavlinsky, founder and one of YABLOKO’s
leaders, delivered a key report "Russia in Ten
Years." Valery Borschev, Chairman of YABLOKO’s
Human Rights Faction and member of the Moscow Helsinki
Group, and Galina Mikhaleva, Secretary of YABLOKO’s
Political Committee, participated in panel discussions
on human rights in Russia, and trade and economic
relations between Russia and the EU.
Grigory Yavlinsky stressed in his
speech that only cooperation and integration of Russia
and the EU will allow both the sides to take a decent
place in the world of the 21st century, and give them
the opportunity to compete with the North American
and Asian world economic growth centers in the nearest
perspective. According to YABLOKO’s leader,
the main obstacles for Russia’s integration
into Europe are Russia’s domestic problems,
such as "primitive authoritarianism", corruption
and "deformation of the principle of freedom
of conscience"...
The Future of EU-Russian Relations
- The Liberal Viewpoint" seminar was held in
Helsinki, Finland on the 29th of April and gathered
over 200 people in the audience. The hosts of the
seminar were the Swedish People’s Party in Finland
(SFP) and the Swedish International Liberal Center
(SILC) and it was arranged in cooperation with Russian
ALDE member party Yabloko and Svenska Bildningsförbundet.
The seminar was divided into three
parts, starting with introductory remarks from Carl
Haglund, Minister of Defence and SFP Party Chair,
Martin Ängeby, Secretary General of SILC and
Astrid Thors MP, ALDE Party Vice President, followed
by key note addresses from Yabloko founder, Dr. Grigory
Yavlinsky and MEP Kristiina Ojuland. The seminar continued
with panel discussions on human rights as well as
trade and economic relations in the afternoon.
Carl Haglund commenced by pointing
out that a well-functioning relationship between Russia
and the EU is beneficial for both parties, which was
echoed in later discussions. Also the fact that the
EU is Russia’s biggest and Russia EU’s
third biggest trading partner was repeated during
the day. Peace through trade is a fundament for the
EU and something to continue working on. It took 18
years of bargaining before Russia joined the WTO in
August 2012 and there still remain obstacles in the
trading policy.
EU-Russia cooperation must be based
on mutual respect. The importance of the EU putting
pressure on Russia to respect freedom of speech and
human rights was underlined during the seminar. The
”foreign agent”-law, the Sergei Magnitsky
case and other anti-democratic laws are alarming.
Russia is not interested in being led by the hand
towards democracy – the country must do the
work itself when it comes to democracy and human rights.
Some of the people working for these values are in
jail, but many were at the seminar – including
the founder of the Yabloko party.
In his key note speech Dr. Girgory
Yavlinsky stated: “The important question is
not how long Putin is going to stay in power –
the important question is what is going to be instead
of him? All other questions are secondary. Then we
will be able to speak about elections et cetera.”
MEP Kristiina Ojuland reminded that
the Russian Parliamentary elections in 2011 were the
real starting point of the lack of trust. They were
clearly not free and fair and that has also changed
the European Parliament’s view on Russia. Corruption
and VISA freedom for Russian citizens were also addressed
during the seminar which, thanks to simultaneous translation
into Russian and English, attracted a vast number
of participants. The seminar has been recorded and
can be viewed on www.sfp.fi/russia.
Radio Liberty/Radio Free Europe,
September 28, 2012.
A nervous reaction displayed by the
Russian authorities for the PACE resolution on the
implementation of Moscow’s obligations on the
democratic development [of Russia] which has not been
promulgated yet, is caused, according to experts,
by two main factors. First, the Kremlin reorients
its foreign policy and foreign economic strategy from
Europe to Eurasia. Secondly, the recent repressive
policies towards the civil society will inevitably
affect [Russia’s] behaviour on the international
arena. Alexei Arbatov, international relations expert
and Director of the Center for International Security
of the Russian Academy of Sciences, talks about this
in his interview to the Radio Liberty...
YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin and
Galina Mikhalyova, Executive Secretary of the Political
Committee, had a meeting with Bundestag deputies from
the Free Democratic Party. The German side was represented
by Patrick Kurth, MP, and Serkan Toeren, MP, and Maximilian
Spinner, Secretary of the Political Department of
German Embassy.
Deputies of German Parliament were
interested by the progress and assessment of the Russian
parliamentary and presidential elections, growth of
public activity in Russia and prospects of Russia’s
political development. The discussion also evolved
around the Russia-EU relations and Germany’s role
in their improvement. "Visa-free regime for the
Russian citizens to the EU and an anti-ballistic missile
defence system that could be developed jointly with
NATO are the initiatives of our party that we put
forward as early as in 1990s," Sergei Mitrokhin
stressed.
Grigory Yavlinsky said that the main
objective of all the opposition forces in Russia should
be radical change in the socio-political system rather
than simply a replacement of top officials. He said
this during a meeting with representatives of the
European Parliament's Liberal Group (ALDE). The sides
discussed the political situation in Russia after
the presidential elections and prospects for further
development.
The meeting was held on March 5 in
YABLOKO’s office. Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the liberals
in the European Parliament and ex Prime Minister of
Belgium, Renaldas Vaisbrodas, Political Adviser, ALDE,
Sergei Mitrokhin, YABLOKO Chairman, Galina Mikhalyova,
Executive Secretary of the Political Council and head
of the Gender faction and Olga Radayeva, International
Secretary...
...Yabloko has been active in Russian
politics for almost 20 years. Fully aware of our responsibility
to Russian citizens, who aspire to liberty and justice,
our party has managed to survive and retain its potential
against continuous and severe administrative pressure.
Our work has been not only difficult, it has been
dangerous, and in some cases fatal. Larisa Yudina,
leader of the Yabloko branch in Kalmykia and a journalist,
was killed; so were Farid Babayev, leader of Yabloko
in Dagestan, and Yuri Shchekochikhin, a Duma deputy
and investigative journalist who was investigating
corruption in the secret services.
It is true that elections in Russia
today are not free and fair. But this is due not only
to the fact that Kasyanov’s party was denied registration
and thus cannot take part in the elections. Russian
elections ceased being free and fair after the presidential
elections in 1996. Unfortunately, back then European
liberals did not protest as loudly as they are doing
now. (In fact, the electoral system was similarly
defective in 2003 when Kasyanov was prime minister
under President Vladimir Putin).
Today, however, this is how Russian
elections are held and there are no other means for
a peaceful, nonviolent change in political course
and change of government. Liberals at Yabloko proceed
from the premise that an outright rejection of all
opportunities for peaceful change and the adoption
of actions based on the principle that “it has to
get worse before it gets better” is irresponsible
and leads to a dead-end...
On July 14 YABLOKO leaders meet with
members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council
of Europe, Rapporteurs on the monitoring of Russia,
Mr Andreas Gross and Mr Gyorgy Frunda, and Ms. Agnieszka
Nachilo, Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Monitoring
Committee. The rapporteurs are preparing a report
on the monitoring of Russia's obligations and commitments
entered upon accession to the Council of Europe for
the presentation in the Parliamentary Assembly...
Today young activists from the Youth
YABLOKO conducted a serious a one-person pickets against
adoption of a draft law (submitted by Senator Alexander
Torshin) envisaging that Russia should not implement
the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights.
The State Duma had been planning to adopt the draft
law in the first reading but due to a heated public
discussion around the draft law decided to postpone
the discussion of the issue...
The YABLOKO party demands that Mr.Torshin’s
draft bills limiting the jurisdiction of the European
Court of Human Rights should be either revoked by
the author or declined by the State Duma.
A ban for the Russian judges to apply the decisions
of the European Court without their confirmation by
the Constitutional Court will lead to even greater
degradation of the Russian judicial system. The Constitutional
Court can not count on any trust from the Russian
citizens after the statements servile to the executive
authority and voiced by its Chair Valery Zorkin.
The citizens of Russia who became victims of unjust
court consider the European Court as the last hope
to achieve justice...
On Friday, July 1, the Moscow Youth
YABLOKO organisation will hold a series of one persons
pickets by the State Duma against adoption of the
draft law envisaging overriding ruling of the European
Court.
The State Duma plans to adopt this
drat law in the reading on Friday.
The action will start at Okhotny Ryad
1 at 9:30 a.m.
"Russia - Europe:
Partnership for Modernisation" � such is the
title of the international forum taking place at Novy
Arbat street, Moscow on Monday. The key topic of the
meeting is establishing partnership agreements between
Russian and European manufacturers.
According to representatives of the
YABLOKO party who participated in the forum, a large-scale
organisation of joint business should start with abolishing
of the visa regime between Russia and EU member states.
In addition, important changes should be introduced
into laws.
�It is very important so that the
visa regime is abolished and we insist on this. And
it is very important that our institutions become
consistent with the European institutions. I mean
here laws referring to functioning of business and
transparency of state bodies for all the citizens,�
stressed Galina Mikhalyova, Executive Secretary of
the Political Committee of the YABLOKO party...
YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin
made a speech at a congress of Norwegian liberal party
Venstre on April 3, 2011. His speech was devoted to
the issues of European integration, Russia’s
role in this process, as well as problems Russia encounter
in its development as a democratic state. Over 500
people were present at the congress: delegates of
the Venstre party and leaders of foreign sister parties.
In his speech Sergei Mitrokhin told
to his foreign colleagues about the history and the
structure of the YABLOKO party, as well as the liberal
and democratic values YABLOKO have been advocating
for almost 20 years already.
Sergei Mitrokhin also said that the
approach of the Western leaders based on Realpolitik
had failed. YABLOKO’s leader called the EU to
develop a single strategy in its relations with Russia:
“The lack of firm approach to Russia when liberal
values or human rights are concerned was regarded
as a kind of carte blanche by our elites. And now
we all have what we have”...
Following an initiative by ALDE, the
European Parliament last week adopted a resolution
on the rule of law in Russia. Guy Verhofstadt MEP
and Kristiina Ojuland MEP wrote an open letter to
President Putin outlining ALDE's paragraph in the
resolution, and stating: “Russia is an important
neighbour and has a duty, through its commitments
as a member of the Council of Europe, to live up to
European standards of democracy, fundamental rights
and the Rule of Law”. LI full member YABLOKO
welcomes these efforts to facilitate the establishment
of the rule of law in their country and develop partner
relations between the EU and Russia. “We have
always advocated the view that the work should be
based on universal human liberal values, rather than
Realpolitik. Only on this basis can we build a democratic
law-governed state, and create a sustainable competitive
partnership between the EU and Russia. The discussion
in the European Parliament demonstrates that increasingly
more European politicians have begun sharing this
approach”, says YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin...
On February 9, 2011, YABLOKO’s
leader Sergei Mitrokhin made a speech at the seminar
Prospects and Challenges to Russian Modernisation
organised in the European Parliament by the ALDE group.
Describing the present situation in
Russia he said that "the prospects for Russian
modernisation are vague, when challenges are real
and numerous." Mitrokhin said that the main challenges
to for Russia were its totalitarian past and oligarchic
present.
"Our totalitarian past –
the 70 years of communism –destroyed not only
Russian civil society, but even a society as such,
and eradicated the concept of property owners",
Mitrokhin noted. According to Mitrokhin the reforms
of 1990s failed to create democracy in Russia, instead
they created oligarchy and shut down the possibility
of forming a broad layer of full-fledged owners in
the country, and without such a layer democracy is
not possible...
...Opening the
seminar, ALDE leader Guy Verhofstadt
said:
"Russia will always be an important neighbour
and strategic partner for the EU. But we shall not
be silent when violations of human rights and the
rule of law are common place. Our commitment is to
the Russian people, who deserve better.
"Council of Europe, OSCE or WTO membership entails
obligations. For a serious international player that
Russia aspires to be, meeting international commitments
is paramount.
"Russian authorities would be well advised to
pursue a more liberal agenda. This means introducing
true competition, guaranteeing political freedoms,
distinguishing between oligarchs and politicians,
and most importantly adhering to the rule of law.
"Modernisation of Russia will only be successful
if this liberal agenda is first put into practice.
Building on the current flawed economic and political
system will lead to nothing."
Kriistina Ojuland MEP
(ALDE, Estonian Reform Party), former Foreign Minister
of Estonia and ALDE spokesperson on EU Russian relations,
said:
"We believe that a modernisation of Russia should
not only entail economic and market reforms but also
calls for greater democracy, political freedoms, and
respect for human rights and the rule of law.
"I welcome the European Parliament's initiative
to establish an early monitoring group in order to
observe the preparations of the forthcoming parliamentary
and presidential elections.
"I would very much welcome a prompt resolution
by the European parliament on the situation regarding
the rule of law in Russia."
On January 21, a round table “Russia
and Europe: a View from Kaliningrad” took place
in Kaliningrad on the initiative of the Kaliningrad
branch of YABLOKO.
“Relations between Russia and
the European Union, first of all the problem of abolishing
the visa regime, is not an abstract, but a vitally
important problem for the residents of the Kaliningrad
region,” said Vladimir Vukolov, deputy chair
of the regional parliament of the Kaliningrad region
and representative of the Elder Generation public
organisation...
Chair of the YABLOKO party Sergei
Mitrokhin and leader of YABLOKO’s Pensioners
of Russia faction Alexei Borschenko visited the conference
of the Kaliningrad branch of YABLOKO. The conference
discussed the regional list for elections to the regional
parliament (regional Duma), that will take place in
March 2011. In his speech at the conference Mitrokhin
told about the activities of the party targeted at
solving the problems of the residents of the Kaliningrad
region. According to Mitrokhin, one of the key directions
here would be introduction a visa-free regime with
the EU member countries...
Today, on October 15, the Congress
of the European Liberals and Democrats party, ELDR,
(Helsinki, October 14-15) adopted resolution Nuclear
Disarmament and Arms Control – Using the New
Momentum in the Debate for a “Global Zero”
motioned jointly by the German FDP party and YABLOKO.
“ELDR perceives nuclear
disarmament and arms control as a corner stone of
the global security architecture. ELDR explicitly
commits itself to the establishment of a world free
of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.
However, ELDR wants the progress in the current debate
to have an impact on conventional disarmament,”
runs the resolution...
...Yesterday on October 14, YABLOKO’s
leader Sergei Mitrokhin representing the party at
the ELDR Congress met with Ambassador of Russia in
Finland Alexander Rumyantsev for discussion of some
issues of Russia-Finland relations. In addition, Mitrokhin
and Rumyantsev (who had previously headed the Russian
Ministry for Atomic Energy in 2001-2005) discussed
the problems of the nuclear energy sector.
Today, on October 14, a congress by
the European Liberal Democrats party (ELDR) opened
in Helsinki. YABLOKO is a full member of ELDR. A welcoming
address to over 500 delegates of the Congress was
made by Annemie Neyts-Uyttebroeck MEP, ELDR President,
and Mari Kiviniemi, Prime Minister of Finland. In
her speech Mari Kiviniemi dwelled upon relations between
Russia and Finland stating that Russia was “the
key economic partner for Finland”. Prime Minister
of Finland expressed her opinion that one of the main
problems for Russia at present was overcoming Russia’s
dependence on raw. Mari Kiviniemi also expressed her
hope that Russian-Finnish cooperation will be broadening
in all the spheres: economy, education and culture,
humanitarian exchanges and other...
In his speech ... Sergei Mitrokhin
told about the situation with the recent elections
in Russia and also discussed a number of YABLOKO’s
foreign policy initiatives...
Member of YABLOKO's Political Committee
and founder of YABLOKO Grigory Yavlinsky participated
in the Forum-2000 Conferences in Pragye on October
10-12, 2010. The idea for the Forum 2000 Conference
originated in 1997, when former Czech President Václav
Havel, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Elie Wiesel, and
philanthropist Yohei Sasakawa invited world leaders
to Prague to discuss the challenges humanity was facing
on the threshold of a new millennium. Since then,
Forum 2000 evolved into a successful and widely recognized
conference series, where distinguished guests continue
to address a diverse international community on topics
ranging from religious dialogue to human rights and
national security.
According to former Canadian Prime Minister Kim Campbell,
“The best way to turn philosophy into action
is to bring together the philosophers and actors as
President Havel does at Forum 2000.” Over the
years, Forum 2000 has also become a true Prague tradition,
followed closely by the media, political, intellectual,
and business elites, and the interested public...
On September 6 YABLOKO received the
delegation of the German Free Democratic Party (Freie
Demokratische Partei, FDP) in YABLOKO’s Moscow
office. The FDP delegation included Bundestag members
Dr.Reiner Stinner, Marina Schuster, Dr. Bijan Djir-Sarai
and Patrick Kurth, staff members of the FDP parliamentary
faction, Director of the Moscow Bureau of the Friedrich
Naumann Foundation Sasha Tamm and staff members of
the German Embassy. FDP together with the Christian
Democrats forms a coalition German federal government.
FDP leader Guido Westerwelle is currently German Foreign
Minister...
Such a proposal YABLOKO’s leader
Sergei Mitrokhin put forward at the European Forum
Alpbach. The European Forum Alpbach is a kind of analogue
of the World Economic Forum in Davos, however, Alpbach
focuses on the problems of European integration.
According to Sergei Mitrokhin, the
first step in the way of Russia’s integration
should be raising of the role of the Council of Europe
and new principles of PACE formation. “The Council
of Europe should become an instrument for involving
Russia into the system of European values, European
standards in politics, economy, protection of human
rights and environment,” Sergei Mitrokhin said.
YABLOKO’s leader proposed to European politicians
to make CE more influential via direct elections to
PACE with mandatory control over elections in the
member states by the Council of Europe. Mitrokhin
is also certain that this would be also important
for Russia and its movement along democratic way of
development.
Debating with RF Ambassador in the EU Vladimir Chizov
YABLOKO’s leader raised an issue of development
of a common EU strategy towards Russia. According
to Sergei Mitrokhin, “this should be a consistent
EU strategy towards Russia based on integration rather
than confrontation”...
On June 26 YABLOKO held a meeting
with the delegation of the European Liberals, Democrats
and Reformers party (ELDR) – Mrs. Annemie Neyts,
ELDR President, Mrs.Kristiina Ojuland, MEP, Mr. Michael
Jensen, member of Danish parliament and Mr.Robert
Plummer, ELDR Political Advisor.
Opening the meeting YABLOKO’s
leader Sergei Mitrokhin proposed to discuss the prospects
of further cooperation between ELDR and ELDR full
member the YABLOKO party.
Member of YABLOKO’s
Political Committee Grigory Yavlinsky said that the
EU has not yet developed a single strategy for cooperation
with Russia, therefore development of such a strategy
can become a task of ELDR and its faction in the European
Parliament. And YABLOKO can help in development of
such a strategy. "The absence of a well-developed
European strategy as regards integration with Russia
is one of the key obstacles in development of relations
between Russia and Europe. YABLOKO’s proposals
and some provisions of our party programme could form
the basis for such a strategy," Yavlinsky said.
YABLOKO’s leaders also dwelled
upon some aspects of such a strategy. Thus, Sergei
Mitrokhin proposed to European liberals to more actively
support YABLOKO’s initiative on abolishing visas
between the EU and Russia. He called the visa regime
“a rudiment of the Iron Curtain preventing assimilation
of the European standards by the Russian citizens”...
On June 11 YABLOKO’s leader
Sergei Mitrokhin made a speech at the Executive Committee
of Liberal International in Berlin. As Sergei Mitrokhin’s
speech was scheduled in the agenda item “Human
Rights in the Authoritarian States”, he spoke
about police breaking YABLOKO’s picket by the
Russian parliament which was conducted against adoption
of the law “on preventive measures against extremism”,
as well as breaking of a peaceful rally on the Triumfalnaya
square in Moscow on May 31.
The participants of the Executive
Committee also received Sergei Mitrokhin’s report
“Russia and European Integration”. In
this report YABLOKO’s leader once again stressed
the necessity to work out a single strategy for EU
interaction with Russia, which should be based on
integration, rather than confrontation. According
to Mitrokhin, the first step in realisation of this
strategy would be introduction of a visa-free regime
between Russia and the European Union.
Another example of realization of this uniform strategy,
runs the report, may be the Anti-Ballistic Missile
Defence system (ABM) as a joint project of the RF
and NATO countries. “Both the West and Russia
will profit from such cooperation and lose from confrontation,
as democracy can not develop in anti-Western hysteria”,
Mitrokhin stressed.
The report also indicates that cooperation
between Russia and the European Union should take
place in the field of environmental safety too.
According to Mitrokhin, “the
present political and economic situation in the country
can be characterised as the ongoing stagnation which
began under Putin. Russia’s modernisation announced
by President Medvedev has been taking place in words
only”...
The key issues on the agenda of discussions
between YABLOKO members Grigory Yavlinsky and Alexander
Shishlov meetings and PACE politicians are the reforms
in PACE and the Council of Europe and drawing public
attention to the Babayev case (leader of the Dagestan
YABLOKO and candidate to the State Duma Farid Babayev
was murdered in 2007, the trial has been still going
on).
On April 26-27 the founder of the
YABLOKO party Grigory Yavlinsky and member of YABLOKO’s
Bureau and ex First Vice Chair of the ALDE Group,
PACE, Alexander Shishlov will be in Strasburg on the
invitation of one of PACE’s factions - the Alliance
of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Group (ALDE).
Grigory Yavlinsky and Alexander Shishlov
will propose a number of changes to the charter documents
of PACE and CE. “The reforms are necessary so
that to prevent PACE’s turning into a kind of
small UN,” Grigory Yavlinsky stated at a press-conference
earlier today...
On April 26-27 Grigory Yavlinsky will
have a number of meetings in PACE. Grigory
Yavlinsky’s schedule includes meetings with
Mr Thorbjørn Jagland, Secretary General of
the Council of Europe, Mr Melvut Çavusoglu,
President of the PACE, rapporteurs of the Monitoring
Committee on Russia, Mr Andreas Gross and Mr Gyorgy
Frunda, Mr Dick Marty and rapporteur on the North
Caucasus, as well as a speech at the meeting of the
Alliance of Liberal and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).
The Spring session of PACE will take
place in Strasburg on April 26-30 and will be devoted
to the consequences of the economic crisis, the war
between Georgia and Russia and other issues...
An action by the Youth branch of the
YABLOKO party “To Europe without Visas”
took place by EU representation in Moscow today, on
the day on coming into force of the Visa Code of the
EU. Young YABLOKO’s activists
were holding flags of Russia and the European Union
and were chanting slogans “Russia is a part
of Europe!”, “To Europe without visas!”
and “No wasting time in queues by the consulate
departments!” “A
visa-free entrance of the Russian citizens to Europe
conditions Russia’s becoming an integral part
of Europe,” Maxim Kruglov, one of the leader
of the Youth YABLOKO said. “Young people would
like to get education in Europe, to travel there and
to see how Europeans live,” he added.
YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin
also came to the Embassy to support the young activists.
Mitrokhin said that the initiative of elimination
of visa barriers between Russia and EU belongs to
YABLOKO. For the first time this idea was proposed
by the Yabloko faction of the Russian parliament in
1995. “This idea was supported by Russia’s
Foreign Ministry after a long period of our talks
and negotiations with them,” Mitrokhin said.
YABLOKO's leader also raised the issue of a visa-free
regime the congress and meetings of the ELDR party
(of which YABLOKO is a fully-fledged member), as well
as the meetings of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats
for Europe Group (ALDE), the third largest group of
the European Parliament...
YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin
is going to get support to YABLOKO’s initiative
on introduction of a visa-free regime between Russia
and the EU from European liberals during the annual
meeting of ELDR Council which will take place in Rome
on March 12-13.
On the threashold of the meeting Russian
Vedomosti newspaper published an article by Finnish
Foreign Minister Mr.Alexander Stubb where he stated
the adherence of Finland to the agreement between
the RF and the EU on facilitation of the visa regime
which came into force in summer 2007, as well as called
the Russian authorities “to concretize and accelerate”
the work in this direction. “Finland would welcome
a visa-free regime between the EU and Russia and will
spare no effort for hitting this goal,” Mr.
Stubb stated. “I hope that Russian leaders will
have enough insistence and political will so that
to facilitate the necessary reforms,” he wrote.
Sergei Mitrokhin discussed the problem
of introduction of the visa-free regime at the meeting
with Ambassador of the Republic of Finland to the
Russian Federation Matti Anttonen on February 17.
YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin
welcomes today’s statement by the Minister of
Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation on introduction
of a visa-free regime between Russia and EU.
“We hope that consultations
conducted by experts will reach a solution in the
nearest perspective and we shall be able to speak
about definite time [for implementation of the visa-free
regime] then. Russia is ready to transfer to a visa-free
regime with Russia already tomorrow,” Sergei
Lavrov, Russia’s Foreign Minister, told the
journalists after his negotiations with Catherine
Ashton, the High Representative of the European Union.
YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin
called to the activisation of efforts in the introduction
of a visa-free regime between Russia and the European
Union at the meeting of the Alliance of Liberals and
Democrats for Europe (ALDE) taking place in Brussels
today. ALDE is the third largest faction in the European
Parliament holding the balance between the right and
the left.
Sergei Mitrokhin told in his speech
that “the European Union should work out a strategy
for interaction with Russia based on integration rather
than confrontation”. “The European Union
should initiate the projects that would involve and
initiate the Russian society and elite into the European
values and approaches,” he said. According to
Mitrokhin, such a strategy can ensure Russia’s
movement along the European way of development...
According to Mitrokhin, the idea of
abolishing visas between Russia and the EU was proposed
as early as in 1995 by the YABLOKO faction in the
Russian parliament. “We specially invited then
Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Igor Ivanov
and persuaded him that this initiative was not a fantasy,”
Mitrokhin said. He also noted that in 2003 Ivanov
shared these ideas with his Italian counterpart.
A number of MPs of the European Parliament
supported the idea of development of a new European
strategy in relations with Russia and agreed with
Mitrokhin that the European Union had not developed
such a strategy yet. Some MPs also supported the proposals
on the earliest introduction of a visa-free regime
and also stated that they would welcome Russia’s
perspective joining the European Union...
The Russian United Democratic Party
YABLOKO considers abolishing of the visa barrier separating
the European Union and Russia be the most important
and a very necessary step towards RF-EU integration.
The advantages that both the sides will get in solving
this problem considerably overweight the bureaucratic
problems that may seem insurmountable today.
We are certain that the issue of elimination
the visa barrier between Russia and Europe should
be examined and solved by politicians rather than
bureaucrats. A political will towards strategic decision-making
will enable us to find constructive ways out in such
issues as, for example, the readmission problem.
We would like to specially stress
that freedom of movement within Great Europe is not
reduced for the Russian citizens to facilitation of
their business, study or tourist trips (albeit this
is also very important). This means their normal life
within a single European civilization on the basis
of shared principles. And this issue has become especially
acute when a visa barrier separated us from our closest
Eastern European neighbours as close interaction with
them has always been and continue to be very important
when we speak about European trends in Russia.
Statement by Chairman of the
Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO, September
21, 2009
The Russian United Democratic Party
YABLOKO considers that urgent conclusion of multi-lateral
agreements on creation of an anti-ballistic missile
defence (ABM) system for Europe jointly with the USA,
NATO and the European Union is a challenging and strategically
important task for Russia.
Implementation of this project is
of global significance. At the expected rates of nuclear
missile proliferation, the number of potential threats
of missile attacks against Russia, the US, Europe
and any country of the world will only broaden. A
joint ABM system of the technologically developed
states and Russia as a country with one of the largest
nuclear missile potentials will become the most important
element for protection of the planet from nuclear
threats in the 21st century. For Europe creation of
ballistic missile defence (BMD) jointly with Russia
will represent the first large step towards creation
of such a system and will be also important for raising
the efficiency of nuclear non-proliferation policy.
YABLOKO
calls to change Russia�s foreign policy
Press release, July 3, 2009
�Current trends towards growth of authoritarianism
and corruption, neoimperialism, rehabilitation of
Stalin�s regime, unbridled anti-Western propaganda
in the mass media create a serious obstacle for efficient
foreign and defence policies, as well as domestic
and economic policies. This trend should be reversed,�
runs YABLOKO�s programme declaration on Russia�s foreign
policy.
Grigory
Yavlinsky: Respect should become the Russian national
idea
Press Release, November 19, 2002
The leader of the YABLOKO party Grigory Yavlinsky
explained his view of Russia's state and national
idea at the round-table meeting "St. Petersburg
in the 21st Century" at the Rosbalt information
agency on November 19, 2002. According to Yavlinsky,the
Russian state should proclaim the following idea:
"preservation of the state within the present
boundaries and the dissemination of European ideas
and European influence via Russia to the whole of
Eurasia.”.
Europe's
March to the East
Moscow faces the prospect of choosing a new strategic
direction
Vek, by Valery Liubin, October 18, 2002 We have not seen much coherent commentary
in Russia on a decision made by the European Union
in early October to accept ten new members in 2004
(Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia,
Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, and Cyprus). However, this
move is much more important and fraught with more
significant consequences than the news about NATO
eastward expansion which once caused Russia to dig
in its heels. All attention is being focused on one
side-effect alone - resolving the Kaliningrad dilemma
and the tug-of-war between Brussels and Moscow - although
it is quite clear which side will be forced to make
the greater concessions when finding a compromise.
The ALDE group secured a paragraph
in the resolution adopted by the European Parliament
last week on Russia, reminding “the Council
and the High Representative of the full array of appropriate
measures that may be used when faced with systematic
human rights abuses and failures to uphold the rule
of law”...
...On a related matter, questioning
the Commission concerning recent evidence showing
that the EU-Russia visa facilitation agreement, in
force since June 2007, is still not fully implemented
in a completely reciprocal way, ALDE spokesperson
on Russia Kristina Ojuland (Reform Party, Estonia)
said "we fully support the visa waiver agreement
as a measure to enable Russian citizens to travel
to the EU with minimum formalities, but we would expect
the Russian side to apply the same standard to our
citizens. We must ensure that the current requirement
for EU citizens to register within three days with
the authorities if staying in a private home in Russia
is abolished."
Speech by Sergei Mitrokhin
Liberal International Executive Committee
Berlin, June 11, 2010
Announcing a policy towards modernisation
in Russia President of Russia put himself in line
with a number of Russian rulers-reformers who aspired
to perform radical transformations in the country.
Some specific traits of this policy resemble those
of his predecessors. The President understands modernisation
primarily as acceleration of scientific and technological
development. With some reservations about the need
for political reform, the latter look like a number
of quite shallow and very systematic activities...
By Robert Woodthorpe Browne.
Special for YABLOKO's web-site. May 26, 2010
...Now the UK has a coalition Government,
in which Nick Clegg is Deputy Prime Minister, with
5 LibDems in the Cabinet and a further 15 as junior
ministers. The legislative programme, read out by
Queen Elizabeth II yesterday, contains very many policies
from the LibDem manifesto, and the two parties are
committed to a 5 year government to enable them to
carry out their reforms and eliminate the deficit.
The real lesson to be learned from
a Russian point of view is that the UK suffered from
limited access to the media for minor parties. If
a platform is given to others – as in the prime
ministerial debates – the people are able to
make an informed choice and will be excited by a political
process that they will not think to have been “fixed”
by those already in power.
It was 65 years ago that the World
War II ended. The scope of the disaster was so devastating
that the entire world learned the lesson and found
ways for reconciliation of the recent foes and creation
of international mechanisms for peaceful development
of the mankind. Responsibility and intellect of politicians,
experts and public leaders took over narrow national
and corporate interests allowing to formulate common
approaches to the construction of a new Europe and
a new world. After the war, the UN and the Council
of Europe were established and the integration of
the European democratic states leading to today’s
European Union began. The Liberal International was
created, and its Oxford Manifesto of 1947 proclaimed
liberal values to be a must for future development.
Freedom and democracy, human rights and rule of law
became key components of the new world order. In spite
of the fact that half of Europe remained under Stalin’s
totalitarian dictatorship, progress was irreversible.
This value-orientation proved to be successful as
the communist regimes collapsed in the USSR and Eastern
Europe...
Speech by Sergei Mitrokhin
at ELDR Council meeting, Rome, March 12, 2010
In my view, elimination of visa barriers
between Russia and Europe should be examined and solved
by politicians rather than bureaucrats. All we need
is political will towards such strategic decision-making.
Long-term advantages here both for Russia and Europe
considerably overweight bureaucratic problems. And
it will also allow us to solve such issues as, for
example, work permits and registration for foreign
citizens working in Russia, which should be part of
the general agreement on elimination of visa barriers.
For the Russian citizens the freedom
of movement within Europe is not reduced only to facilitation
of their business, study or tourist trips (though
this is also very important). This means their normal
life within a single European civilization on the
basis of mutually shared principles and values. This
issue has become especially acute when visa barriers
separated us from our close Eastern European neighbours.
However, close interaction with them has always been
very important when we speak about European trends
in Russia.
At a meeting of the European Liberal
Democrats parliamentary group in Brussels on 3rd February,
Sergey Mitrokhin, Leader of ELDR member party, YABLOKO,
called for a strong collaboration amongst liberals
in view of the introduction of a visa-free regime
between Russia and the European Union.
Mitrokhin called on the European Union
to “work out a strategy for interaction with
Russia based on integration rather than confrontation”.
Such integration is needed both for the EU and Russia
in the field of the economy (which should not be reduced
to oil and gas issues only), politics and national
security (e.g., creation of a joint ABM), as well
as a broad spectrum of other aspects, such as integration
of Russia’s rich intellectual and labour potential
into the European economy. “The European Union
should initiate projects that would engage Russian
society and elite into the European values and approaches”.
According to Mitrokhin, such a strategy can ensure
Russia’s steady movement towards the European
way of development. Elimination of visa barriers and
free communication between the citizens of the EU
and Russia will enable Russian citizens to experience
the achievements of Western democracies and observe
how democratic institutions should really function
and apply this in their own country... READ
MORE
Grigory Yavlinsky’s
interview to the Radio Liberty
www.svobodanews.ru
September 22, 2009
Radio Liberty: Many Russian
politicians are enthusiastic about Barack Obama abolishing
the plans of deployment of the elements of the American
ABM system in Central Europe. Do you share such feelings?
Grigory Yavlinsky: No,
I don’t, as these missiles and the decision
of deployment of the ABM system adopted by President
Bush did not threaten Russia in any way. It had a
symbolic meaning. What Barack Obama did, was done
because he was amending an error made by george Bush,
rather than yielding to Russia, as President Bush’
decision was absolutely inefficient - technically,
economically and strategically. He had enough courage
to shelve the erroneous plan created by George Bush.
R.L: How do you assess
the reaction of the Russian politicians who are speaking
about this as of a large diplomatic victory of Moscow
then?
G.Y.: As immature, it
stirs pity. Such a reaction can not serve as a basis
for further development of reasonable, earnest, and,
if we further elaborate on this thought, grownup relationships
with the developed countries. In general this is a
trade-in approach – if you give something to
me, then I give something to you, if you take away
your missiles, we shall help you or will not help
you somewhere in Iran – such an approach to
the world politics is extremely primitive. Such approaches
proved leading to deadlocks and inefficient, but,
unfortunately they have been widely spread not only
in Russia, but in the West too...
Enemy
Around - A view on the present conspiracy theory by
Boris Vishnevsky
Fontanka.ru, June 30, 2009
The Soviet Union collapsed due to �ecological horror
stories� of 1980s that provoked �artificial schizophrenic
attitudes�: thus, a fear of salmonellosis led to a
situation when Soviet citizens stopped eating chicken
and the corresponding ministry responsible for provision
of poultry collapsed, and a �horror story� on nitrates
filling vegetables grown in the USSR killed our agriculture.
After this the country was crammed with US poultry
and imported fruit and vegetables.
Papers
Say EU Deal Is Victory for Russia
By Alex Fak and Simon Saradzhyan, The Moscow Times,
April 29, 2004
Arbatov said that while sharing positions on the seriousness
of threats such as terrorism and proliferation, the
two sides have not advanced far in practical cooperation.
In part, the lack of cooperation is rooted in Europe's
failure to develop its own military and security capacity
in the form of a rapid deployment corps independent
of NATO, he said.
Europe
Prepared to Sign Interim Agreement with Russia on
Visa-Free Regime
Rosbalt, April 23, 2004
The European Commission president emphasized that
the transition to a visa-free regime in the long term
would give 'practical confirmation of the devotion
of both sides to the creation of a Europe without
borders.'
On
visa regulations between Russia and EU countries
LDR Group Statement, Strasburg, June 23, 2003
Liberals, Democrats and Reformers' Group of the Parliamentary
Assembly of the Council of Europe supports the idea
of elimination of the visa regime between the Russian
Federation and the European Union member countries
which was discussed at the Russia-EU summit in St.Petersburg
in May 2003.
Russian
citizens should go to Europe without visas!
Statement, June 5, 2003
We, the undersigned citizens of the RF, support the
initiative of the YABLOKO party to eliminate the visa
regime between Russia and EU member states.
Patching
Things Up at Putin's Picnic
By Grigory Yavlinsky, The Moscow Times, June 6, 2003.
The top-level meetings held in St. Petersburg last
weekend produced positive results for Russia, Europe
and the entire world.
The
War against Terrorism and the Transformation of the
World Order, three perpesctives
By Alexei G. Arbatov, CEPS Commentary, November 2001
...two months later after the "Black September",
the weaknesses of the coalition and deficiencies of
the operation are becoming more and more evident,
as well as the confusion and inconsistency of the
United States and other major players in adopting
a new security strategy and still less in implementing
it... (Archive)
Stumbling
Blocks on the Road to Europe
World Economic Forum, 24.01.2003 (Archive)
Europe is not just a geographical concept, "but
an economic, political and civilizational unit..."
Under
a Single Umbrella By
Alexei Arbatov, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, April 7,
2003
The unfolding drama of the war in Iraq has pushed
less sensational problems to the background, even
though these problems may be extremely important in
the long term.
The
Strategy of a Compromise
By Grigory Yavlinsky, Deloviye Ludi, March 24, 2003
We cannot neglect the fact that Europe’s borders,
separating the region from the most unstable and the
most dangerous parts of the world, run along Russia’s
borders. Their defense is an all-European concern.
Furthermore, a weak and unstable Russia would represent
an eternal breeding ground for terrorist threats.
Only a Bigger Europe, which takes advantage of the
territorial and intellectual potential and all other
resources of the former republics of the Soviet Union,
can complete globally on an equal footing with North
America and South-East Asia.
YABLOKO:
Visa barriers separating Russia and Europe need to
be eliminated as soon as possible
Aliance Media, March 4, 2003
The first real step has been taken to the elimination
of the visa barriers separating the single European
space, including Russia. That is how Chairman of the
Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO Grigory Yavlinsky
assessed the decision to form a working group to implement
the proposal to switch to a visa-free regime for trips
by Russian citizens to EU countries.
More
Efficient Than War
By Grigory Yavlinsky, Izvestia, February 11, 2003
Nowadays it is difficult to find a politician in Russia
who will not talk about the need to "join Europe".
Russia is a European country. I am convinced that
if everything goes well, Russia will be a member of
all European political, economic and defence structures
in 10-15 years. These will be mostly new organisations.
Grigory
Yavlinsky thinks that a single Russian-European security
system needs to be created as soon as possible
Alliance Media, December 3, 2002
On November 30, 2002 Grigory Yavlinsky commented in
a speech at an international conference "The
Big Europe", held in Vilnius, Lithuania, on the
problems of establishing new relations between Russia,
Europe and the USA, dictating the requirements related
to the "creation of a new joint security agenda
for Russia and Europe." "One of the key
aspects today concerns the creation of a Russian-European
anti-missile defence system for the theatre of military
actions (RE AMD or AMD TMA)," said Yavlinsky.
Moscow
faces the prospect of choosing a new strategic direction
Vek, by Valery Liubin, October 18, 2002
The latest round of talks about campaign cooperation
between the Union of Right-Wing Forces We have not
seen much coherent commentary in Russia on a decision
made by the European Union in early October to accept
ten new members in 2004 (Poland, Hungary, the Czech
Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta,
and Cyprus). However, this move is much more important
and fraught with more significant consequences than
the news about NATO eastward expansion which once
caused Russia to dig in its heels. All attention is
being focused on one side-effect alone - resolving
the Kaliningrad dilemma and the tug-of-war between
Brussels and Moscow - although it is quite clear which
side will be forced to make the greater concessions
when finding a compromise.
Grigory
Yavlinsky advocates a visa-free regime at the Baltic
Development Forum
On October 14-15, 2002, the leader of the Russian
Democratic Party YABLOKO
Grigory Yavlinsky will take part in the fourth annual
meeting of the Baltic Development Forum. The Forum
will be held in Copenhagen and is entitled "New
Bridges Between the Baltic States: Prospects and Strategies
of the Centre of Growth in Europe".
Russian
liberal politician concerned by attacks on Putin's
foreign policy views
Interfax, April 24, 2002
Moscow, 24 April: The leader of the Russian liberal
party Yabloko, Grigoriy Yavlinsky, expressed his convern
that the foreign policy pursued by President Vladimir
Putin has been under pressure from certain circles
in the political and bureaucratic establishment aimed
at revising this policy.
A
Forum Argues Over Russia's Place By Gregory Feifer, The Moscow
Times, May. 31, 2002
Experts gathering Thursday on the heels
of three major international summits said the West's
leading policymaking institutions must include Russia
in a broad strategic framework if they want to successfully
tackle the top global priority: terrorism. Despite
that general consensus, there was stark disagreement
on specifics at the two-day conference on Euro-Atlantic
integration, organized by the Washington-based Euro-Atlantic
Institute of International Integration Studies.
Russia
looks to its future role By Quentin Peel, The Financial
Times, May 27 2002
There is nothing like a good old-fashioned
summit in the Kremlin between erstwhile superpower
rivals, with a treaty on nuclear missiles thrown in
for good measure, to get the pundits excited.
