Emilia Slabunova visited Chelyabinsk to support party candidates in municipal elections

Press Release, 6.09.2019

Yabloko Chair Emilia Slabunova visited Chelyabinsk so that to support party candidates in elections to the City Council.

In case of election, deputies from the Yabloko party will have a lot of work: the city with over one million population does not have the quality of life it deserves. During the visit, Slabunova quoted sad statistical data: Chelyabinsk is rated 127th among the largest cities of Russia in terms of quality of life, half a million people have incomes below the subsistence minimum. The healthcare sector encounters such problems as shortage of doctors and health workers, half of the medical facilities are in need of major repairs or are in disrepair. The salary of medical workers, teachers and education workers does not match what was stated in the May decrees of the Russian President. The situation in education is no better: schools do not have enough places for children, so every fifth child in Chelyabinsk studies on the second shift.

However, according to Emilia Slabunova, the most serious problem in the region is environmental situation. The Chelyabinsk Region holds the lowest ranking as of environmental situation among all Russian regions.  Chelyabinsk lacks greenery, and encounters serious problems with air pollution, as well pollution of water and soil. The problems will only worsen after the commissioning of the Tominsky mining and processing plant, Slabunova noted. It should be also noted that Yabloko has long been struggling against the construction of a mining and processing plant in the city.

“If decisions are made correctly and the right policies are systematically implemented, then neither people, nor cities, nor regions are experiencing such problems,” the politician said.

Photo: Emilia Slabunova and Yaroslav Shcherbakov

The decision on the construction of the plant should have been made taking into account the opinions of residents and offer of all necessary compensations. None of this has been done. “The position of the party is as follows: a mining and processing plant should not be built near Chelyabinsk,”  Emilia Slabunova said.

She emphasised that in April party candidate Vladimir Kazantsev appealed to court with a request to cancel the decision on the construction of the plant in the city. A few weeks ago, at his request, the court decided to conduct an independent examination. “After receiving an expert opinion, we will plan further steps”, Slanunova noted.

The Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko nominated a team of candidates for the municipal elections. “These are people who care for the city, they live in it and see what it is turning into,” said Yaroslav Shcherbakov, leader of the regional branch of Yabloko and party candidate in the elections.

Shcherbakov stressed that the party was participating in the elections with a five-point programme: clean water (cleaning the Miass River, preventing the construction of a mining and processing plant in the Shershnevsky Reservoir), fresh air, as Chelyabinsk residents are suffocating from smog, green and comfortable streets and courtyards, heating and hot water to every house and all year round, and, finally, respect for people. A city for people is a city where priority is given to the needs of residents, a city where a person is respected.

Poor environment, corruption, collapse of the housing and utilities services – all these are the problems resulting from the work of the current government and the current deputies, the Chair of Yabloko stressed. It’s time to change it.

“Candidates of Yabloko are true patriots of their city and professionals. They are ready to radically change the situation in the city, making the city modern, European, clean, comfortable, comfortable for people, ” Emilia Slabunova emphasised.

The politician also visited School No.3 in Chelyabinsk, campaign cubes of the party and held a meeting with residents of the city.