YouTube channel Zhivoi Gvozd, 12.10.2026

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There are several key topics today: the situation after the elections; Russia’s prospects, its goals and tasks; and the new generation of politicians, their responsibilities and opportunities. However, the most important and immeasurably painful issue today is the people under arrest and in prison for political reasons.

As of 9 October, there are 1,844 such prisoners in Russia. Over the past month, their number has risen by 40. Since the beginning of this year alone, at least nine people held on politically motivated charges have died in pre-trial detention facilities and penal colonies. These are terrible figures, and behind each of them there is a human life, the fates of people and their families.

On 8 October, a court in Moscow sentenced Yabloko member and psychologist Yelena Perepelitsa, who for many years has helped people facing hardship in their lives, to four years in a penal colony. On the same day, an appeal court in St. Petersburg upheld the ten-year sentence of our activist Vasily Neustroyev, who has already been in custody for more than three years. Today, eight Yabloko members remain in pre-trial detention facilities and penal colonies, and of course this is not only about our party.

It is especially important, quite literally a matter of life and death, to help people with serious illnesses now: Alexei Gorinov, Maria Bontsler, Igor Baryshnikov, Andrei Shabanov, Yuri Dmitriev and others whose lives are at serious risk because of their health.

Everything possible must be done to save them: seeking an amnesty, transfer to house arrest, or any decision that would save human lives. I ask everyone not to forget them, to write letters to them, and come to the actions of writing letters to political prisoners that Yabloko holds every month. For people deprived of their liberty, this is extremely important. Human life, liberty and dignity are the highest value, and this must be the starting point in any political circumstances.

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Grigory Yavlinsky spoke about the situation of political prisoners in Russia, the country’s prospects after the elections and the need to seek a diplomatic solution on the Zhivoi Gvozd YouTube channel. The full broadcast is available in the video.