Home pageAdvanced searchIndexSend a letterAdd to favorites

May, 2009

November 2004
October 2004

September 2004

August 2004

July 2004

June 2004

May 2004

April 2004

March 2004

February 2004

January 2004

December 2003

November 2003

October 2003

September 2003

August 2003

July 2003

June 2003

May 2003

April 2003

March 2003

February 2003

January 2003

 

December 2002

November 2002

October 2002

September 2002

August 2002

July 2002

June 2002

May 2002

April 2002

March 2002

February 2002

January 2002

 

2001

2000

1999

1998

Press-archive

 

September 2004

August 2004

July 2004

June 2004

May 2004

April 2004

March 2004

February 2004

January 2004

 

Desember 2003

November 2003

October 2003

September 2003

August 2003

July 2003

June 2003

May 2003

April 2003

March 2003

February 2003

January 2003

 

December 2002

November 2002

October 2002

September 2002

August 2002

July 2002

June 2002

May 2002

April 2002

March 2002

February 2002

January 2002

2001

2000

1999

home page

map of the server

news of the server

press-service

forums

people

Yabloko's Views

publications

New items of the server - January 2011

January 31, 2011

Verhofstadt critical of weak statements by EU leaders on Egypt

Press Release, ALDE, January 31, 2010

As the situation on the streets of Egyptian cities continues to develop rapidly, western diplomatic services and European leaders are struggling to find a position. Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the Liberal group in the European Parliament insists that Parliament request the EU High Representative to address the latest developments in her intervention this week in Parliament.
"The EU needs to keep up with events. The situation on the ground in Egypt is dramatic and evolving rapidly. The European Union must urgently formulate a coherent message that lays out concrete steps to encourage a transition to pluralist democracy and respect for fundamental freedoms in the country. It is no good sitting on the fence and waiting to see whether the regime will prevail over the will of the people. However this is exactly what European leaders are doing right now"...

January 28, 2010

Liberal leaders speak out against Moscow Airport Bombings

LI News Bulletin No 217, January 28, 2011

Following the Moscow airport bombings, world liberal leaders have spoken out against the attacks. On behalf of the LI President, LI Secretary General Emil Kirjas expressed hope that “the perpetrators will be found and brought to justice”, further expressing the desire that “…Russian state policies become more democratic and tolerant so that everyone, including those from the marginalized communities can feel included and supported by the state.” German Vice Chancellor Guido Westerwelle characterised the attacks as “barbaric” and “condemned [the] callous attack in the strongest terms.” Michael Ignatieff, Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada (LPC) expressed his deepest sympathies on behalf of the LPC and stated that: “This senseless act of violence reminds us that these attacks can occur anywhere, and we must remain vigilant against those who threaten terrorism to our own citizens at home and abroad.” On behalf of the ALDE group in the European Parliament, Kristiina Ojuland, co-rapporteur of the European Parliament on Russia expressed her condolences to all the victims and the relatives of the casualties.

MORE

“Egypt should learn from Tunisia’s mistakes” – says LI President
"LI recommits to combatting ignorance and hate against gay people", says Minoves
Ouattara calls for export ban to increase pressure on Gbagbo
Alliance Party is bringing about real change, says leader David Ford
Strong liberal presence at UK Nordic Baltic Summit
Liberals Call for EU Mediator to Address Violent Revolts in Albania
Reminder for the LI Prize for Freedom 2011 nominations
President Aquino new chairman of the Liberal Party - Online only
Human rights central at EU-Uzbek meeting - Online only

Deputy head of Yabloko branch severely injured in attack
LI News Bulletin No 216, January 21, 2011

Deputy head of the Bashkirian branch of LI full member Yabloko, Damir Garifullin, has been hospitalised following an attack on 17 January which left him severely injured. According to Sergei Naumkin, Head of Bashkirian Yabloko, “on January 6, 2011, Damir was registered as a candidate to the deputies of the State Assembly of the Republic of Bashkortostan. In view of this we think that the investigators should not rule out the version that someone was trying to remove an undesirable candidate to the legislative body of the republic in such a way.” Damir was involved in all areas that his Yabloko branch is working in, and reportedly various people from the local government as well as from law enforcement bodies had expressed their dissatisfaction with Damir. Naumkin also called the government and the head of the Republic to conduct an unbiased investigation of this attack and punish the guilty. Yabloko leader Sergei Mitrokhin is also filing applications to the Public Prosecutor General and head of the Investigation Committee.

MORE

¦New Tunisian government “not a government of unity”, says LI President
¦Tunisia's uprising and politics in the Arab World
¦Serbia firmly on the EU course, says LI VP Kacin
¦Westerwelle calls for acceptance of referendum results in Southern Sudan
¦Media Law out of line with EU Regulations, say Verhofstadt and Kroes
¦Ncube elected leader of MDC in Zimbabwe
¦LI announces 2011 Manila Congress: 16-19 June

YABLOKO submitted to electoral commissions signatures for registration in election campaign in 13 regions

Press Release, January 28, 2011.

The YABLOKO party submitted to electoral commissions the required signatures for registration in election campaign in 13 regions. According to Russian law, YABLOKO as a non-parliamentary party must collect signatures from its electorate in support of its candidates to get registered in election campaigns.

YABLOKO is going to participate in regional parliamentary elections in the Kaliningrad, Kursk and Tambov regions, to the city assemblies of the capitals of the Vladimir and Saratov regions, the Stavropol Area and the Republic of Komi. In total the party nominated candidates to run in parliamentary and municipal elections in 15 regions...

Over 30,000 votes in favour of dismissal of St.Petersburg Governor collected

Press Release, January 28, 2011.

Over 30,000 votes in favour of dismissal of St.Petersburg Governor Valentina Matviyenko were collected witnin the framework of the campaign launched by St.Petersburg YABLOKO at
www.piter-bez-matvienko.ru,

“We, citizens of St.Petersburg, demand a dismissal of Governor Valentina Matviyenko: for several years in power we were demonstrated that the policies of the city administration clash with the interest of the residents of the city and represent a constant violation of our rights,” runs the statement signed by the residents of the city...

January 27, 2010

YABLOKO conducted an action “Who Will Be Answerable for the Acts of Terror?

Press Release, January 26, 2011.

“Who Will Be Answerable for the Acts of Terror?” was the slogan of today’s picket of YABLOKO’s activists.

They put three large panels with information on the acts of terror for the past ten years (date, place, number of victims) by the Griboyedov monument at Chistiye Prudi.

Special information boards were devoted to explosion in the underground crossing under the Pushkin square in the centre of Moscow, hostages of the Nord-Ost musical, bombings of the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service buildings, bombings of passenger trains, Beslan school, bombings in the Moscow metro. All the boards had a symbolic memorial plague and a question “Who is answerable?”

A special board was devoted to the act of terror in Moscow’s Domodedovo airport...

January 26, 2010

Russian secret services should report to the society

Statement by the YABLOKO party, January 26, 2011.

The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO demands from the Federal Security Service (FSB) to render to the society and the parliament a detailed report on investigation of all the large-scale acts of terror beginning from explosions of blocks of flats in Moscow in September 1999. Now it has become absolutely clear that non-transparency of secret services harms the security of Russian citizens...

We demand an answer on the question about the reasons behind the failure of the secret services to avert mass murders of civilians. We demand satisfactory evidence that the organizers and those who ordered the acts of terror will not be able to bring us new tragedies. We demand cooperation with the society in the development of recommendations for improvement of the work of secret services and the law enforcement. Only in such a way we can really punish those who is guilty in these deaths and, which is even more important, to do out best so that to avert such tragedies...

Ojuland expressed her condolences to the victims and the relatives of the casualties of the Domodedovo explosion

Press Release, European Parliament, ALDE. January 26, 2011.

Kristiina Ojuland, co-rapporteur of the European Parliament on Russia expressed her condolences to all the victims and the relatives of the casualties of Monday's terrorist attack on Domodedovo Airport in Moscow.

Ojuland noted that after last year's terrorist attacks in Moscow metro the Russian authorities promised to improve the capabilities of the law enforcement agencies in the fight against terrorist threats...

Condolences from Liberal International on the act of terror in the Domodedovo airport

January 25, 2011.

On behalf of everyone in the LI Secretariat I would like to convey our deepest condolences for the horrible tragedy that happened yesterday at the Domodedovo airport. Living in a huge metropolis like Moscow that has also been affected by terrorist attacks, and with in a daily subconscious fear that it might happen again, we totally understand how you feel.

Let’s hope that the perpetrators will be found and brought to justice. But also, let’s hope that the Russian state policies become more democratic and tolerant so that everyone, including those from the marginalized communities can feel included and supported by the state.

Yours,
Emil Kirjas,
Secretary General

Condolences from the Dutch D66 party on the act of terror in the Domodedovo airport

January 25, 2011.

We saw the terrible news on television and feel deeply sorry for the victims, their relatives and friends. We wish you all the best...

January 24, 2010

On the act of terror in the Domodedovo airport

Statement by YABLOKO's Chairman, January 24, 2011.

The Russian Democratic Party YABLOKO mourns the victims of today’s explosion in the Domodedovo airport [near Moscow]. We are wishing recovery to all the injured and express our deep condolences to those who lost their relatives and next of kin.

We are calling the Russian authorities to spare no effort for rendering timely aid to the victims and provision of security measures. Also we are deeply concerned by the repeated acts of terror, as well as growth of their scale which has been taking more and more human lives.

Today’s tragedy makes us doubt the information from the security services on elimination of the organizers of the explosions in the Moscow metro in March 2010 and other recent acts of terror...

Sochi Mayor menaces YABLOKO’s activist

Press Release, January 24, 2011. Video

The Sochi Administration puts pressure on YABLOKO’s activist and environmentalist Suren Gazaryan who downloaded a video from the meeting of Sochi Mayor Anatoli Pakhomov with the residents of the Akhshtyr village (the village has been facing environmental problems due to the construction of the Adler – Krasnaya Polyana highway for the Olympic Games). The administration demands from Gazaryan to delete the video and threatens that in case of disobeying he will have problems...

Round table “Russia and Europe: a View from Kaliningrad” took place in Kaliningrad

Press Release, January 22, 2011

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...

January 21, 2010

YABLOKO and administration of Volgograd signed a cooperation agreement

Press Release, January 21, 2011

Following Sergei Mitrokhin’s visit to Volgograd in October 2010, the Volgograd regional branch of YABLOKO and administration of Volgograd signed a cooperation agreement. The goal of the joint work is “development of civil initiatives for efficient socio-economic and socio-political development of Volgograd, raising of the role of non-parliamentary political parties in the functioning of local self-government bodies”.

The parties of the agreement will joint their efforts in drawing public attention and involving of the population of the city to the solution of the environmental problems, as well as ecological education, development of programmes for improvement of public territories, protection of environment, development of the city infrastructure and mass involvement of the citizens in planting trees in the city parks, gardens and streets...

We should not stop at Lenin’s burial only

Statement by the Chair of the YABLOKO party, January 21, 2011

The YABLOKO party has repeatedly raised the topic of the need to overcome the totalitarian legacy of our country. One of the key prerequisites for such policies is [taking out of the Mausoleum] and burial of the body of [the leader of the October 1917 riot] Vladimir Lenin, transfer to cemeteries of the remnants of Joseph Stalin and other Soviet political figures buried at the Kremlin wall. In this issue we completely support the position of the Russian Orthodox Church.

The bodies of the executioners of Russia’s peoples should not lay at the main square of out country.

On the other hand we think that reburial of the bodies of Soviet leaders only should not become the prime goal here. At present Russia acutely needs comprehensive complex measures for de-Sovietisation and de-Stalinisation of its public and social life...

The time has come to act on Belarus

Press Release, ALDE, January 21, 2010

Commenting on the European Parliament's strong condemnation of the brutal oppression of opposition and civil society in Belarus in the aftermath of the presidential elections in December, ALDE MEP Kristiina Ojuland (Estonian Reform Party, Estonia) said: "Today the European Parliament is sending a strong message of support to the people of Belarus, demanding the immediate and unconditional release of all political detainees and an immediate stop to all forms of harassment and threats against members of the protesting public...

January 20, 2010

YABLOKO participated in a march and a rally in memory of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasiya Baburova

Press Release, January 19, 2011

YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin, member of YABLOKO’s Bureau Valery Borschov and activists of the Moscow branch of the party participated in a march and a rally in memory of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasiya Baburova.

Several hundreds people marched along the Tverskoy Boulevard to the Novopushkinsky Garden in the centre of Moscow. The participants held portraits of the murdered antifascists and journalists. A short rally took place in the Novopushkinsky Garden. People spoke about the neonazists’ crimes performed at the negligence of the authorities. One of the last speeches by Stanislav Markeov recorded shortly before his death was demonstrated on one of the large monitors...

January 19, 2011

Leaders and activists of the YABLOKO party laid flowers to the place of murder of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasiya Baburova

Press Release, January 19, 2011

Leader of the YABLOKO party Sergei Mitrokhin and members of YABLOKO’s Political Committee Grigory Yavlinsky and Mikhail Amosov, as well as leaders and activists of the Moscow YABLOKO laid flowers to the place of murder of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasiya Baburova in the centre of Moscow at Prechistenka street.
Later today (at 8 p.m.) Sergei Mitrokhin will participate in the memorial rally organised by the Committee of January 19. The rally will take place in the Novopushkinsky garden.
Markelov and Baburova were murdered in Moscow in plain daylight on January 19, 2009, shot in the head by a gunman. According to the investigators, the crime was performed by neonazies...

An attack against deputy head of the Bashkirian branch of YABLOKO

Press Release, January 19, 2011

Deputy head of the Bashkirian branch of YABLOKO and human rights activist Damir Garifullin was severely beaten on January 17, 2010. Damir is in hospital now with a stab wound in the chest and multiple injuries...
Naumkin also said that the investigators had several versions, as Damir was active in all the areas where Bashkirian branch of YABLOKO was working, and different people from the local government and self-government bodies and the law enforcement serving them expressed their dissatisfaction with Damir...

Environmental disaster at construction of the Olympic facilities in Sochi: Russian Railways poisoned the Dzykhra river in the Sochi National Park

Press Release, January 17, 2011

The YABLOKO party continues its monitoring of the environmental situation at the Black Sea coast, at construction of the Olympic facilities in Sochi. Since the public inspection of Sochi construction sites conducted by Sergei Mitrokhin jointly with activists from the North Caucasus Environmental Watch held in October 2010, the ecological situation has deteriorated.

According to Suren Ghazaryan, activist of the YABLOKO party and the Environmental Watch on North Caucasus, catastrophic pollution of the Drykhra river and its water storage reservoir began on January 8, 2011. The pollution led to mass death of fish in the river...

Verhofstadt welcomes prompt Commission action on media law

Press Release, ALDE, January 18, 2010

"When EU core values, like freedom of media, are at stake there is no time to lose before taking action. We have asked the Commission to act promptly to ensure freedom of media in Hungary, under threat by the newly adopted Media law and the Commission has given us today a first assurance," said ALDE Leader Guy Verhofstadt, welcoming Barroso's declared intention, during today's question time with the President of the Commission, to send a letter to the Hungarian government this week indicating the crucial points of the Media Law that Hungary should change...

January 18, 2010

YABLOKO to pay tribute to the memory of Stanislav Markelov and Anastasiya Baburova

Press Release, January 18, 2011

Tomorrow on January 19 (at 14-30) the leader and activists of the YABLOKO party will lay flowers to the place at Prechistenka street where lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasiya Baburova were killed.

Later on the same day (20-00) Sergei Mitrokhin will participate in the memorial rally organised by the Committee of January 19. The rally will take place in the Novopushkinsky garden...

Sergei Mitrokhin: we will not allow nationalists to destroy Russia

Press Release, January 15, 2011

..."Unfortunately a month ago, this tragic occasion was used by nationalistic forces for provocations. I am categorically against the situation when the memory of Yegor is privatized by nationalists, who are destroying our country," Mitrokhin added.

"I pay tribute to all the victims of nationalistic crimes. Nationalism is one of the reasons behind such crimes. Unfortunately, the state does nothing to stop the spiral of ethnic conflicts that can not only lead to new tragedies, but also to the destruction of Russia. If inter-ethnic peace is ruined in Russia, the country will cease to exist as a state ", said YABLOKO’s leader. "The people who are shouting anti-Caucasian slogans have apparently parted with the Caucasus, and along with it, with the Volga region, where people of different nationalities live. But we will not allow the nationalists to destroy Russia. Nationalism will not work ", said Sergei Mitrokhin.

January 14, 2010

Pollution of Lake Baikal is a crime!

Statement by the Chair of the YABLOKO party, January 13, 2011

A year ago, on January 13, 2010, Chair of the Russian government Vladimir Putin issued a decree on resuming of functioning of the Baikal Pulp Plant. The past year demonstrated that the work of the pulp plant was associated with constant violation of the pollution norms.

Instead of abrogation of this decision the Government obviously is going to meet the commercial interests of manufacturers of pulp and is planning under faked pretexts to even revise these norms!

Pollution of Lake Baikal is a crime not only against the present generations, but also future generations and not only those of Russia, but the entire world.

We demand that functioning of the Baikal Pulp Plant should be immediately stopped!

Joint Statement by ALDE, ALDE-PACE, ELDR and Liberal International on sitution after elections in Belarus

January 13, 2011

Liberals in Europe and worldwide have closed ranks to make a strong call upon the Belarusian government to release all journalists, opposition candidates and civil society representatives who face continued detention.
For liberal parties and their representatives in the European and national parliaments the brutal repression of the peaceful demonstrations following the presidential elections on 19 December 2010 is completely unacceptable...

The sentence to Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev is unlawful and should be aborgated

Interfax, December 30, 2010

Moscow, December 30, 2010. INTERFAX. Grigory Yavlinsky, member of Political Committee of the Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO, supports the statement of the party in connection with a sentence to Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev and considers the verdict by the court unlawful and subject to revision.

“I completely share YABLOKO’s position as put down in the today’s statement by the party. The sentence to Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev comes from a political decision, adopted outside court, therefore this verdict is unlawful and should be abrogated,” stressed Grigory Yavlinsky.

“The YUKOS case is an instrument for intimidation of the Russian business,” he said...

January 13, 2010

Whereabouts of $4Bln Is Classified
By Khristina Narizhnaya

The Moscow Times, January 13, 2011

The protection of "strategic interests, defense capability and state security" is the reason now given by the Audit Chamber for classifying the results of its 2008 investigation into the alleged $4 billion worth of financial violations by state-owned Transneft...

Mitrokhin requested records from the Audit Chamber after Navalny published reports accusing Transneft of stealing $4 billion. The disclosure on the Internet created a sensation, with scores of bloggers filing online complaints to the chamber and the Prosecutor General's Office, demanding an investigation into the alleged wrongdoings...

MORE

The Politics and Business of Going Green
By Roland Oliphant

The Moscow Times, January 12, 2011

This year will see increasingly politicized environmental movements sprouting up around local issues, and an alliance between green groups and businessmen to open up Russia's potential in renewable energy — provided there are no more fires...

Protesters failed to close the Baikal paper mill and a government-appointed commission gave the Khimki highway project the go ahead in December. But the public outcry over both “put regional environmental problems on the federal agenda,” said Alexei Yablokov, who heads the Yabloko party's green wing.

That puts single-issue pressure groups in the peculiar position of being disillusioned with their current tactics, but in a strong position to open a new front: the overtly political.

“We're expecting a strengthening and greater politicization of the green movement in 2011,” Yablokov said in e-mailed comments. “Groups that previously avoided politics have come to understand that, without political decisions, nothing gets done, laws don't work”...

the original publication in the Moscow Times

Sergei Mitrokhin: a mourning rally in memory of Yegor Sviridov should not turn into a nationalistic action

Press Release, January 13, 2011

YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin calls all the Russian citizens who are going to participate in the mourning rally in memory of the Yegor Sviridov [whose murder and the following release of the murderers from the police station provoked mass-scale disorders with nationalistic slogans in the centre of Moscow on December 11] not to allow for turning of this mourning event into a nationalistic action. “The fans should not support nationalists who turn murders into a political capital,” he said...

The Audit Chamber of the Russian Federation classified the information on clandestine dealings by Transneft as secret data

Press Release, January 13, 2011

The Audit Chamber of the Russian Federation refused to submit a report on its audit of Transneft in connection with stealing of funds during construction of the Eastern Oil Pipeline. In his answer to an inquiry from YABLOKO’s leader Sergei Mitrokhin Mikhail Bekhmelnitzin, auditor of the Audit Chamber, informed that the audit report was classified secret on Transneft’s request, as the documentation “represent a commercial secret which is not subject to public discussion”. YABLOKO’s leader continues to insist that there are no grounds for classifying such documentation secret...

January 11, 2011

All the detained must be immediately released!

Statement by the Chair of the YABLOKO party, January 3, 2011

The Russian United Democratic Party YABLOKO condemns the actions by the authorities instigating the unjust rulings by the courts on holding Boris Nemtsov and other oppositional politicians (who participated in a permitted action on December 31) under arrest for many days. These decisions are unlawful and politically biased, and represent a disgrace to the police that fabricated the evidence as well as the courts of the first instance that went on a leash of the police.

This constitutes another attempt of ‘tightening up the screws’ in the very beginning of 2011 which demonstrates growth of panic in the Russian government resulting in political inadequacy. We demand that President Medvedev must adopt measures required for immediate release of all the detained and taking under control the Moscow police which has been discrediting the state power in the eyes of the Russian citizens and the world community...

YABLOKO demands from Byelorussian President Lukashenko to release all the detained on December 19-20

Press Release, December 31, 2010

The YABLOKO party demands from Byelorussian President Alexander Lukashenko to release all the detained in Minsk on December 19-20, 2010.

In its statement YABLOKO characterized presidential elections in Belarus as a political farce which had ended by demonstrative physical violence over thousands of people who had publically voiced their disagreement with the official results of the voting.

YABLOKO expressed much concern about the fate of those held arrested despite serious threat to their health. “We are calling you to maintain an absolutely different policy marked by releasing detained Russian citizens on December 29,” runs YABLOKO’s statement...

European liberals deeply concerned by developments in Belarus and Russia
Press Release, ELDR, January 10, 2010

The liberal forces of Europe strongly deplore the dismal developments on human rights in parts of Europe during the past couple of weeks. Beginning with Belarus; what could be perceived on the outset as slight progress in allowing several candidates to run against Aleksander Lukashenko in the Presidential elections soon turned into the direct opposite...

Moving on to Russia; not only are there fundamental reasons to question the sentence of Mikhail Khodorkovsky to an additional six years of imprisonment - but European Liberals are also critical of the current state of human rights and freedom of assembly in Russia. The day after the Khodorkovsky sentence, opposition party leader Boris Nemtsov was detained together with 130 others in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and had to spend 15 days in prison for "disobedience of police", a token sentence that runs against the right of freedom of speech and assembly, one of the cornerstones of the European system which is also deeply embedded in the statutes of the Council of Europe, to which Russia is member...

2011 European Year of Volunteering: "a small investment can deliver significant benefits"
Press Release, ALDE, January 10, 2010

Following an original proposal in 2009 by Marian Harkin, MEP (Independent, Ireland), 2011 was designated as the European Year of Volunteering and was formally launched in Budapest this weekend by European Commissioner Viviane Reding and the Hungarian State President Pal Schmitt.

 

e-mail: english@yabloko.ru