Russian Ombudsman Urges Extrajudicial Protection for Russian Residents
RIA "Novosti", March 25, 2004
Lukin also advocated the establishment of a "single human rights zone in Russia." He recalled that todate human rights ombudsmen worked in as few as 27 of the 89 Russian regions. Vladimir Lukin believes that it is necessary to complete the process.

Few Municipalities Draw Enough Votes
St Peterburg Times, March 23, 2004
By Vladimir Kovalev
St. Petersburg voters elected only 30 of 63 municipal councils in March 14 elections, and just 18 councils have a full complement of members. In 92 St. Petersburg districts extra elections are to be held in the next 8 months, the Union of Democratic Forces SPS and Yabloko reported Friday.

Society’s Advocate Before the State Vladimir Lukin: I'm not quarrelling with the authorities, I intend to make them abolish unlawful decisions
Novaya Gazeta, No 19, March, 2004
Interview with Vladimir Lukin by Irina Gordiyenko
Everything depends on your staff. Russia has learned this too well. When the democrats (YABLOKO and SPS) failed to get into the Duma, Vladimir Putin promised that their ideas and staff would be in demand. And really, thanks to Putin’s backing many YABLOKO members began entering different power structures. And Putin proposed one of the founders of the YABLOKO party Vladimir Lukin for the post of ombudsman.

Poetry Wars
By Rebecca Reich
Friday, Mar. 19, 2004.
Together at last fall's poetry biennale were, from left to right, Arion editor alexei Alyokhin, Moscow City Duma official Yevgeny Bunimovich and Vavilon founder Dmitry Kuzmin. The main obstacle to putting together this year's celebration of International Poetry Day was a matter of logistics. Not the usual kind of logistics, since Moscow's lively literary scene ensured organizer Yevgeny Bunimovich both fail-safe venues and a devoted set of listeners. No -- here, the challenge lay in getting all of the festival participants to tolerate being in the same room for more than five minutes.

Every Region Should Have Its Ombudsman
Vladimir Lukin promised to fight against the "terrible arbitrary rule of the law and enforcement agencies"
By Kira Latukhina
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, March, 18
Yesterday 25 Russian ombudsmen headed by the new Ombudsman of Russia Vladimir Lukin left for the meeting with the PACE Human Rights Commissioner Alvaro Gil-Robles in Strasbourg. Before the trip Lukin held a working meeting for his colleagues from the regions where press and representatives from the Presidential Administration were invited. This was the first public appearance of the former Deputy Speaker of the State Duma in his new post.

A meeting between Grigory Yavlinsky and members of the Russian branch of the PEN-club took place last week.
March 18, 2004
Most of the discussion evolved around developments with Russian democracy since 1985. According to Grigory Yavlinsky, with the beginning of perestroika people discovered that another life was quite possible: without fear. Lies and the absurd. The state can be arranged to ensure that citizens’ rights can be exercised, instead of a fight against them. The state should not only protect property rights, but also support an efficient social system. And people strived for such changes.

Chemical Funds
Associated Press, March 17, 2004
MOSCOW (AP) -- Environmental and human rights activists criticized the implementation of Russia's chemical disarmament program Tuesday, accusing authorities of mismanaging funds and endangering lives by skimping on safety and security measures.

The Putin Model Is Doomed to Fail
By Andrei Piontkovsky
Wall Street Journal, March 15, 2004
Yesterday's Russian presidential election was another triumph for Vladimir Putin's brand of "managed democracy." The campaign and election followed the pattern of the parliamentary vote three months ago, which the OSCE characterized as "free, but unfair."

A"managed democracy" does not need free media they are only a hindrance
By Viktor Sheinis
Kreml.org, March 14, 2004
The problem is that "managed democracy" does not need free media, they are only a hindrance. That is why a policy of stifling the free mass media has been adopted. In the present situation among television channels, and to a lesser degree radio and newspapers, only those controlled by the authorities are really functioning. We witnessed the demolition of two independent television companies, one by one.

Elections Without Choice: The 2004 Campaign
Galina Michaleva,
Head of the Yabloko Party's Analytical Center
Russian Election Watch, March 2004
Some key points: * No candidate other than Putin is actually trying to become president; each is a mere tool of some other political force, e. g., the Kremlin * Kremlin invests surprising effort to control an election it has in the bag * The logic of authoritarianism inevitably leads to repressive excess * Kremlin destroying even the illusion of democracy it hopes to project * Putin reduces political role.

Putin's Popularity Veils Uncertainty for Russia
By Kim Murphy. Los Angeles Times, March 14, 2004
The president is likely to be reelected today. His ability to address festering needs and commitment to civil liberties are unknown.

Yavlinsky, Khakamada Eye Future
St Petersburg Times, March 12, 2004
Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky is mulling joining forces with liberal opposition presidential candidate Irina Khakamada to create a broad democratic coalition after Sunday's vote. He says he's not yet thrown in the towel.

Artemyev Gets Post
St.Petersburg Times, March 12, 2004

Senior Yabloko official and St. Petersburg politician Igor Artemyev was appointed head of the new Federal Anti-Monopoly Service on Wednesday.

Sakhalin Energy Concludes Agreement to Provide Japan with Natural Gas
Rosbalt, March 12, 2004
The company Sakhalin Energy has as part of its Sakhalin II priject concluded an agreement with Toho Gas, one of Japan's largest gas distribution companies, to provide it with liquefied gas, according to a statement issued to Rosbalt by the press office of Sakhalin Gas.

Liberal Party Reports Violations in Local Parliamentary Elections
Mosnews.com, March 12, 2004

Deputy Chairman of the liberal YABLOKO party Sergei Mitrokhin announced that early voting in local parliamentary elections in Krasnoyarsk Region was subjected to violations of the electoral law, Interfax news agency reported Friday.

Paper: Tallies Get Changed
The Moscow Times, March 12, 2004
Three months ago, the Communists submitted a complaint accusing the Central Elections Commission of certifying falsified results, saying their vote tally from the notarized protocols gathered by party observers at polling stations did not square with the declared results. Similar complaints were raised by Yabloko and the Union of Right Forces, but all the complaints were dismissed.

Endorsing a Candidate Not so Easy
Editorial, The Moscow Times, March 12, 2004
In this election, however, the biggest decision that voters face is not whom to vote for, but whether to vote at all.

Putin Calls on Voters to Show Up
By Francesca Mereu, The Moscow Times, March 12, 2004
President Vladimir Putin went on national television Thursday to urge Russians to use their votes Sunday -- in a clear attempt to increase the turnout of an election he is expected to win easily.

The Results of the Parliamentary Elections - 2003 Are Again Contested
YABLOKO piles the courts with void protocols
YABLOKO contests the results of the parliamentary elections in court
Nezavisimaya Gazeta, March 11, 2004
YABLOKO's applications for lawsuits with a demand for the annulment of the results of the Duma elections were received by 78 district and republican courts yesterday. Press Secretary of the YABLOKO party Sergei Loktionov explained to Nezavisimaya Gazeta that YABLOKO had claims against 170 out of the total 225 district electoral commissions.

YABLOKO Goes to Court seeking the annulment of the results of the State Duma elections
By Anastasya Matveyeva
Gazeta, March 11, 2004
The YABLOKO party challenged the official results of the December 7, 2003 parliamentary elections as soon as they were announced. YABLOKO also said that it would file lawsuits. Suits were filed with regional courts and the Supreme Court yesterday. YABLOKO cited a comparison of the data in 14,065 protocols from observers against the figures provided by the Central Electoral Commission.

YABLOKO rolls to courts
The party seeks to invalidate parliamentary elections in 170 constituencies
By Viktor Khamrayev
Kommersant, March 11, 2004
The liberal YABLOKO party filed a series of lawsuits demanding the invalidation of the results in December's State Duma elections in 170 out of Russia's 225 constituencies. YABLOKO failed to gain the five percent of the vote required for parties to get party list representation in the Duma and had only three deputies elected from their constituencies.

YABLOKO challenges Duma election results in court
By Ilya Zhegulyov
Gazeta.ru, March 11, 2004
The liberal YABLOKO party has filed 78 lawsuits contesting the results of last December's State Duma elections. The party wants the results in 170 of Russia's 225 constituencies annulled after independent observers detected over 430,000 violations in the work of the regional election commissions.

Yavlinsky Considering a Comeback
By Catherine Belton Staff Writer
The Moscow Times. Thursday, Mar. 11, 2004. Page 3
He passed on the race for the presidency, but Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky says he's not yet thrown in the towel. Despite the resounding defeat of Yabloko in the December Duma elections, Yavlinsky said Wednesday he was considering a comeback. He told a conference he was mulling joining forces with liberal opposition presidential candidate Irina Khakamada to create a broad democratic coalition after Sunday's vote.

Yavlinsky and Khakamada stated that they might form a coalition
Interfax, March 10, 2004

The leader of YABLOKO Grigory Yavlinsky and presidential candidate Irina Khakamada believe that it is necessary to form a broad democratic coalition after the presidential elections. They made this statement at the international conference “Are Free Elections Possible in Russia?” on Wednesday in Moscow. Yavlinsky also noted that future cooperation between YABLOKO and the party to be created by Irina Khakamada was quite possible.

Griogry Yavlinsky at Interfax on the new Russian Cabinet
Interfax, March 10, 2004
The leader of YABLOKO Grigory Yavlinsky thinks that the Russian government has not actually changed and is simply under greater control of the President.

Liberal leaders positive on Yabloko's court move
Gazeta.ru, March 10, 2004
Commenting on Yabloko's legal attempt to annul the results of last December's parliamentary elections, the party's leader Grigory Yavlinsky said he could not say anything about its prospects. "According to the data we have obtained, there were very serious and significant violations in the vote-counting and we think that this case will be taken seriously," he said.

Election Fraud
The Central Electoral Commission responds to Duma election complaints
By Orkhan Dzhemal, Novaya Gazeta, March 11, 2004
Three days from now, the presidential election will be over - and the Central Electoral Commission (CEC) is bound to receive numerous complaints of unfairness. Meanwhile, the CEC has only just completed investigating complaints received after the parliamentary elections.

Fradkov Does Not Plan to Cut Fat
By Valeria Korchagina, The Moscow Times, March 11, 2004
Rather than letting go some of the 1 million civil servants working at all levels of the government, the shakeup aims to make the government more transparent and efficient without increasing the number of staff, Fradkov said.

Putin's Pursuit of the Power Vertical
By Caroline McGregor, The Moscow Times, March 11, 2004
So if all levers of state control are in Putin's hands, the single question becomes: Where will he lead? No one knows. In four years in office, Putin has shown himself to be predictable in his ability to be unpredictable.

Putin's Main Rival Is Apathy
By GUY CHAZAN, Wall Street Journal, March 11, 2004
Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the liberal Yabloko party, which suffered a crushing defeat in December's Duma elections, says voting would mean supporting the regime Mr. Putin has created -- "an authoritarian political system where the press, secret services, elections, Parliament and business are all controlled from one room."

The YABLOKO party seeking annulment of the Duma election in 170 constituencies.
By Natalya Panshina, ITAR-TASS, March 10, 2004
Russian liberal party Yabloko has filed lawsuits to revoke the results of the voting in last December's parliamentary election in 170 constituencies out of the country's total 225, Sergei Loktionov, Yabloko's press secretary said Wednesday.

Yabloko files lawsuits concerning 2003 Duma elections.
ITAR-TASS, March 10, 2004
Alexander Veshnyakov, head of the Russian Central Electoral Commission, told the Ekho Moskvy radio on Wednesday that theYabloko party didn't stand a chance to win its lawsuits concerning the results of the parliamentary elections in Russia if its accusations are based on the same materials that the Russian Central Electoral Commission studied earlier.

Russian Human Rights Groups Decry Vote.
By Maria Danilova, Associated Press, March 10, 2004
The election "can be compared to a soccer game, which has no goal, no ball and no field - just the score on the scoreboard, and you are being invited to watch the score," said Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the liberal Yabloko party.

Democratic consolidation and the Role of Political Parties – modern Russian experience
By Alexander Shishlov, Member of the Federal Bureau of YABLOKO party
Liberal International Conference* Guason, Taiwan. March 4-6, 2004
* A meeting of the Executive Committee of the Liberal International and the Asian Conference of the Liberal International took place at Guason, Taiwan, on March 4-6, 2004. The conference discussed the urgent problems related to the construction and development of a democratic state. Liberal parties from 35 countries sent their 120 representatives to the conference. Alexander Shishlov, Member of the Federal Bureau of YABLOKO party, Russia, spoke at the conference on YABLOKO’s view of the problems of developing democracy in Russia.

Sergei Ivanenko: The economic and political course of the government will be determined by the President. And YABLOKO shall create a democratic coalition.
IA Marketing i Consulting, March 2, 2004
It is obvious that President Putin has formed a technical Cabinet, which will be even more technical than Mikhail Kasyanov s Cabinet.

Russia: Putin's Dismissal Of Government Raises More Questions Than It Answers
By Sergei Danilochkin, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, February 25, 2004
Ivanenko says no matter how "uncommon" the candidate, the Kremlin's policy will remain much what it is now -- Putin's policy.

Getting Out the Vote With Ads, Food, SMS
By Anatoly Medetsky and Oksana Yablokova, The Moscow Times, March 5, 2004
Concert tickets, groceries, SMS messages and even threats to turn down medical assistance and dismiss government employees are among the tactics being used by officials in an attempt to boost voter turnout on election day.

Russia: Before and After the Elections
Grigory Yavlinsky's lecture for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, February 26, 2004
I am really extremely grateful for this opportunity to speak to such a special audience on issues relating to the further development of my country.

Analyst: British Petroleum Might Finance Development of the Sakhalin-5 Oil and Gas Field
Rosbalt, March 4, 2004
As reported earlier by the Agency for Conflict Situations, the state oil company Rosneft and British Petroleum are preparing a new agreement on developing the Sakhalin-5 field.

Sergei Mitrokhin: Yavlinsky Convinced Putin Not to Import Spent Nuclear Fuel
Refutation of an article from rbc.ru, March 4, 2004
In an article Putin Will Process the Nuclear Damp (from February 27) Alexei Vinogradov made a serious mistake. The author of the article stated that the President supports imports of spent nuclear fuel into Russia. This is not true. In the quotation used by Vinogradov as his source, Putin speaks refers to the need to focus on waste from our [domestically produced] fuel. He implies here that spent nuclear fuel from domestically produced fuel rod arrays were exported to Europe by the USSR and then by Russia.

Russia's new premier dubbed 'Putin puppet'
By David Cronin, www.europeanvoice.com, March 4, 2004
Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of Liberal party Yabloko, characterized the appointment of Fradkov, until now Moscow's EU envoy, as an attempt by President Putin to copperfasten his grip on power.

Russian opposition leader attacks Putin's choice of new PM
AFP, March 3, 2004
"The government will just be his office," he said here. "It will have no political significance."

The YABLOKO Party: Mikhail Fradkov will be a purely "technical" prime minister
RIA "OREANDA", March 2, 2004
"The President has made it clear that he will directly govern and determine the policy of the country even more than was the case in the past", Ivanenko declared.

YABLOKO: the new Government will be fully controlled by the President.
Rosbalt, March 1, 2004
"This a purely technical post, noted Mitrokhin. - Fradkov is a not a figure of great significance, he does not represent any distinct political course."

Putin's Nominee for the Post of Prime Minister Arouses Controversy Among Russian Politicians
RIA "Novosti", March 1, 2004
"By appointing this technical prime minister, Putin is merely assuming greater responsibility for the government's work, that's all," Ivanenko noted in a RIA interview.

Russia's Liberal Parties Make Restrained Comments on New PM
By Natalia Panshina, ITAR-TASS, March 1, 2004
Deputy head of the YABLOKO party Sergei Ivanenko said that President Vladimir Putin's decision was "quite logical in terms of building a new system of power".