The leadership of Yabloko has expressed its satisfaction that the President of the RF Vladimir Putin has paid attention to the budget proposals of Grigory Yavlinsky.

“We are satisfied that the President considers the ideas expressed by the leader of Yabloko,” said Deputy Head of the Yabloko faction Sergei Ivanenko in an interview with journalists.

The day before Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Kudrin had told journalists that in the discussion of issues connected to the adoption of the budget for 2001, the President of the RF had referred in particular to Grigory Yavlinsky’s view that clear and transparent principles of the distribution of possible budget revenues are required.

According to Ivanenko, this is considered to be “a sign that the President is ready to co-operate”.

Ivanenko also noted that Grigory Yavlinsky “today engages less in politics on television and works more, holding multiple consultations, including those with the President”.

Based on Interfax reports.

Ivanenko stressed that Yabloko still thinks that the decision adopted in

June by the Council of the State Duma not to send the Russian delegation for participation in the summer session of the PACE was erroneous. The Council of the Duma attributed this move to the decision of the April session of the PACE to deprive the Russian delegation of the right to vote owing to the

actions of the federal troops in Chechnya.

Ivanenko also stressed that Yabloko thinks that the position of the Russian executive and legislative authorities in relations with the PACE is “ambiguous”. “If we do not like the rules adopted in the Council of Europe, then we should not be a member of this organisation,” added Ivanenko.

Based on Interfax reports.

See also:

War in Chechnya

A draft of a parliamentary inquiry into the president of Russia “On the use of the law and enforcement agencies to pressurise the mass-media” will be submitted by the Yabloko faction to the State Duma meeting on September 20, 2000.

The draft states that “the State Duma expresses its concern over recent information on acts of force by representatives of the state against the

owners and heads of private mass media.”

Here the document refers to the declarations of Boris Berezovsky. According to Berezovsky, the Administration of the President proposed that he transfer his ORT shares to the state or otherwise face criminal proceedings. The document also refers to the declaration of the owner of the Media-Most holding, Vladimir Gusinsky.

The latter stated that the Minister of Publishing, Television and Mass Media Mikhail Lesin forced him to conclude a deal on ceding the shares of the Media Most holding to the ZAO Gazprom Media in exchange for an end to his prosecution by the Russian law and enforcement agencies and the possibility to travel abroad.

As stated in the draft inquiry, “the declaration of Gusinsky is confirmed by Supplement No 6 to the agreement of July 20 on the cessation of shares that was published by “Izvestia” and “Segodnya” newspapers on September 19. The Supplement states that the agreement can only be implemented if the criminal prosecution of Gusinsky is halted and he is granted guarantees on observing his civil rights. “The Protocol is signed by the Director General of ZAO Gazprom Media Alfred Kokh and the Minister of Publishing Mikhail Lesin. On September 19 Alfred Kokh made a statement that he had in fact signed Supplement No 6,” stresses the draft inquiry.

The document reads: “In view of the aforementioned facts the State Duma asks the following: to conduct a verification of the facts stated by Berezovsky and Gusinsky, especially the actual participation of high-ranking officials in blackmail as a means of signing profitable commercial agreements, as well as a verification of the authenticity of the Supplement No 6 to the agreement on cessation of the shares of the Media Most holding to the ZAO Gazprom Media, with special attention paid to the authenticity of the signature of the Minister of Publishing and Information Mikhail Lesin.”

The deputies propose that the President of the RF, if the facts are confirmed, “to ascertain on whose orders Mikhail Lesin acted, and also take account of the measures adopted by Public Prosecutor in reaction to individuals who awarded themselves the exclusive proxies of the Office of the Public Prosecutor of the RF aiming at blackmail; provide information on the measures to be taken to prevent actions of the officials targeted at illegally restricting the rights of citizens and the freedom of the mass

media.”

Based on Interfax reports.

See also:

Vladimir Gusinsky's case

The Coalition of the right-wing parties SPS and Yabloko does not consider participation in the by-elections of the deputies to the regional legislative assemblies and heads of municipal entities as its first priority, although it will actively participate in them.

Local elections “are very important, although they are not the first priority” for the coalition. The main goal is to “occupy the most important positions at the lower, municipal level and advance ahead of the parliamentary elections”, said Co-Chair of the joint Political Council of the coalition and Deputy Speaker of the Duma Irina Khakamada on September 18, 2000.

She was supported by the Co-Chair of the Political Council of Yabloko and Deputy Speaker of the Duma Vladimir Lukin, who said that single candidates of the coalition would participate in the elections “where they have real chances of winning”. “We are interested in success,” explained Lukin.

At present the coalition has agreed on single candidates to the deputies of legislative assemblies in 10 regions.

According to Khakamada, the Political Council determined “15-25 large regional centres” in Russia, where the SPS and Yabloko plan to participate in the municipal elections. She did not name the cities, noting that they had been chosen, proceeding from two traits – “where we have strong local organisations and where there is the political vertical that we are targeting”.

Speaking about the elections of the heads of the regions, Khakamada noted that the coalition of the SPS and Yabloko would channel their efforts into promoting Mikhail Malakhov to the post of governor of the Ryazan region. In addition, the coalition will support Vladimir Kurochkin who is running for the post of the head of the Chita region and Vlasov in the Vladimir region.

Vladimir Lukin believes that proposing single candidates to elections at

different levels of the coalition will “strengthen the horizontal line of power” “turning voting for single democratic candidates into a tradition”.

Based on Interfax reports.

See also:

Single candidates from Yabloko and the “Union of Right-Wing Forces” (SPS) hope to win the elections in St. Petersburg

Yabloko and the SPS support single candidate Anatoli Golov for by-elections to the State Duma in St. Petersburg