The deputy from the Yabloko faction and Chairman of the regional branch of Yabloko, Alexander Shishlov, called the choice of residence by the plenipotentiary Representative of the President in the North-West district Vladimir Cherkesov "provocative and disrespectful" towards the citizens of St.Petersburg.

This was included in an open letter from Alexander Shishlov that was forwarded to Vladimir Cherkesov last week. The deputy expresses his protest against the choice by the Representative of the President of the historic building (built in 1910) as his residence, which would remove a wedding palace (ed. the civil ceremony for Russian couples that plan to get married) from this building, one of only three in St. Petersburg. Shislov explains in his letter that thousands of citizens of St.Petersburg registered and planned to register their marriages in the Palace.

"In my opinion, if the first perceptible result of the activity of the Representative of the President for citizens involves the removal of a Wedding Palace, this will not contribute to a consolidation of the authority of state power." Shishlov also expressed his hope that Vladimir Cherkesov would be able to find, together with the administration of the city, another location for his residence, which is "more modest and corresponds to the principles of economising the state funds, declared by President Vladimir Putin, which would not violate the interests of the citizens of St.Petersburg".

On June 27-28 the leader of the Yabloko Association will meet the heads of the following parliamentary factions of the German parliament:

• Chairman of the bloc “The Union of Christian democrats and Christian Social Union" (UDU-CSU) Friedrich Mertz,
• Deputy Chairman of the “Social-Democratic Party of Germany” faction Gerhard Ehrler,
• Chairman of the “Free Democrats” faction Wolfgang Gerhardt and with members of this faction.

Grigory Yavlinsky is also scheduled to meet the German Minister of Foreign Affairs Joschka Fischer. The meetings will focus on discussion of Russia’s current policies and economy, as well as the strategic economic programme for Russia. Grigory Yavlinsky is in Germany at the invitation of the German-Russian Forum.

On June 27 the leader of Yabloko will submit a report on present politics and the economic policy of Russia at the annual meeting of the Forum.

Since 1993 the Forum has been bringing together bankers, entrepreneurs, academics, politicians and cultural figures interested in collaboration with Russia.

The Council of Trustees of the Forum includes representatives of Deutsche Bank, Daimler Chrysler, Siemens, Ruhr-Gas, and some other companies. On June 29-30 Grigory Yavlinsky, at the invitation of the Chairman of the the Klaus Schwab World Economic Forum will participate in the summer session of the Forum (the so-called “summer Davos”) which is traditionally held in Salzburg.