Press Release, 25.03.2020

Boris Vishnevsky, head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, sent an appeal to Alexander Beglov, Governor of the city. Vishnevsky proposed a number of specific measures that will facilitate the life of St.Petersburg residents during quarantine caused by COVID-19.

In particular, the head of the Yabloko factions calls to abolish all fines and penalties for citizens, non-profit organisations and small businesses for payment of housing and utilities services and provide an opportunity to defer the corresponding payments, provide compensation for citizens left without work for the period of the quarantine measures. Vishnevsky also proposes to exempt small businesses from paying rent for the use of premises owned by St. Petersburg, and to provide them a deferral on payments for the purchase of privatised objects for this period.

According to the head of the Yabloko faction, in a situation when citizens are virtually deprived of the possibility of holding public actions to express their protest, it is necessary to rule out the actions of the city authorities causing these protests: demolition of historic buildings, construction in place of green areas and others. Boris Vishnevsky believes that it is necessary to “freeze” all projects, if their implementation requires a preliminary public hearing.

Yabloko’s MP also called on the Governor to propose that the branches of the Pension Fund of Russia in St. Petersburg cancel annual visits for pensioners who must confirm their existence, and for pensioners who receive pensions by power of attorney.

In addition, Boris Vishnevsky called on Governor Beglov to initiate at the federal level adoption of the following measures for the quarantine period: introduce “mortgage vacations” for citizens and small businesses, as well as appropriate “vacations” for them on other loans and borrowings, exempt legal entities and individual entrepreneurs from paying fees to the Pension Fund, the Social Insurance Fund and the Compulsory Health Insurance Fund with compensation of losses from the National Welfare Fund.

It should be noted that according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the number of people infected with the new coronavirus exceeded 600,000 in the world. As of 25 March, 658 cases were officially recorded in Russia, including 22 in St.Petersburg.