| Deputy Chairman of YABLOKO Sergei Mitrokhin forwarded to the Central Electoral Commission and Public Prosecutor General of Moscow a petition demanding that it curb the 'black PR': placards that appeared in the metro picturing YABLOKO with hammer and sickle and a slogan "We Are Together!" In addition placards picturing Yavlinsky embracing Zyuganov appeared at the outskirts of Moscow. YABLOKO also thinks that a number of publications in the regional press on the reform in the housing and utilities sector also represent a 'black PR" campaign against YABLOKO. Mitrokhin thinks that the Union of Right-Wing Forces (SPS) and more precisely Anatoli Chubais ordered this campaign. "The position of the authors of the articles completely coincides with the position of the PSS, in addition there are a number of textual concurrences with the speech of the SPS leader Boris Nemtsov," Mitrokhin told Gazeta.
"It is a pity that the colleagues from YABLOKO are throwing stones at us, noted SPS Press Secretary Elena Dikun in an interview to Gazeta. According to Dikun, SPS also was a victim of 'black PR' in the metro: placards appeared in the metro with Berezovsky embracing Nemtsov entitled: "The return of Berezovsky - one million jobs." Mitrokhin demanded that the Central
Electoral Commission investigate the situation. "The Central Electoral Commission is helpless now: all these developments prior to the start of the election campaign are beyond our competence," Elena Dubrovina, member of the Central Electoral Commission, told Gazeta. Dubrovina stressed that black PR can only be opposed prior to the start of the election campaign by filing civil suits against the companies launching such products.
(Gazeta)
See also:
State Duma Elections 2003
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