Grigory Yavlinsky in memory of Sergei Kovalev, 9.08.2021

Photo: Grigory Yavlinsky and Sergei Kovalev, 2010. / Photo by Roman Kulguskin

Sergei Adamovich Kovalev comes from the generation of human rights defenders who constituted the honour of this movement. Absolute self-forgetfulness, love for people and loyalty to humanistic principles, for which Sergei Adamovich, like his friends and colleagues, was deprived of freedom – all this arouses endless respect and admiration to him.

“If we compare the 1960s – 1980s, the years of the dissident movement, with the present time, – Sergei Kovalev used to say, – we will see a dramatic difference. We did not count on social success then. We understood that our statements and criticism would not be accepted, and the only result of freedom of thought would be an imprisonment term. And so it was. People adhered to this model: there is no freedom, but we will behave as if it exists. And they went to jail. And I realised that I would have my imprisonment terms [for it] – seven plus three years. In the early 1990s, there were three wonderful years, and then everything collapsed. Because we became pragmatic, we began calculating the results, rather than declaring our stance.”

For Sergei Kovalev, the time of perestroika became a time of new hopes and tremendous work. His beliefs and principles often were counter to the new reality, and he continued to fight for the meaning of life, for human rights during the wars in Chechnya, and in the Commission on Human Rights under the President. He fought as much as he could. And his resignation from the post of Chairman of this Commission, when it became clear that it was losing independence, was an eloquent act.

Sergei Adamovich insisted, “The normal position of civil society is this: if we achieve a result, it is good, if we fail to achieve it, we will not change our minds anyway. This is our country, we are its citizens and are free to keep to our stances and disregard the authorities.”

For almost 15 years, Sergei Kovalev was a member of the Yabloko party, and a member of its Federal Political Committee. We endlessly appreciate and are proud of our long-term cooperation with Sergei Kovalev. We learned a lot from him. He has always been and will remain the highest authority for us.

It is impossible to convey in words the endless pain of loss that we are now experiencing.

We will always remember Sergei Kovalev.

We are expressing our condolences to the family, relatives and friends of Sergei Adamovich Kovalev.

Let his memory last forever

Grigory Yavlinsky,

Chairman of the Yabloko Federal Political Committee