Decision No 132 of 5.06.2020 by the Yabloko’s Federal Political Committee, 8.06.2020

The Federal Political Committee of the Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko thinks that amendments to the Constitution of Russia, initiated by President Putin, represent demolishing of the foundations of the constitutional system of our country, the Russian legal system as a whole.

It is accompanied by ultimate discrediting of the state institutions that are consciously involved into this process: both houses of the parliament, the Constitutional Court, and the Central Electoral Commission.

The “nation-wide vote”, scheduled for July 1, involves all citizens of the country, the entire Russian people, into an unlawful event, and, thereby, transfers the responsibility for these unlawful actions onto citizens.

Instead of the democratic social state provided for by the current Constitution, an unlawful nomenclature-bureaucratic model of the mafia type with the ideology of demagogic patriotism is being  illegally imposed on the country.

The essence of the nomenclature-bureaucratic corporate state of the mafia type is in the merger of the executive, the legislative and the judicial branches of power, in their interweaving and subordination to an authoritarian ruler personally. Such a system is ruled by fear and corruption. There are no fair elections, no independent court, no rule of law, and no justice.

The amendments to the electoral law that have just been adopted, primarily introduction of electronic and postal voting, represent implementation of a super-authoritarian political model created on the basis of amendments.

It is proposed to consolidate the isolationist complex of views on the Second World War and the Victory in the Great Patriotic War as the core of the ideology of the corporate state. Such an ideology is strongly at odds with the understanding of the largest catastrophe of the 20th century in Europe and throughout the civilized world. It is significant that the vote will actually begin immediately after the [military] parade [commemorating the victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945] on June 24, which the authorities use as a propaganda “warm-up” of the so-called “all-Russian vote”. This is what becomes the main function and the semantic load of the parade, and not the holy memory of the war and the Victory. The fact that [the Victory Day of] May 9 passed this year [due to anti-COVID measures] without military columns and military vehicles and equipment on Red Square did not detract from the significance of the holiday, everyone to whom it is dear tried to fill it with special meaning, regardless of the prevailing conditions.

It is a qualitatively different condition of the state, a claim of being a “separate civilisation”, and not just “zeroing” the terms of office of the current President, that becomes the basis and justification of the regime of personal power, around which a mafia-corporate system of control over the country and the exploitation of its human and natural resources is built.

A narrow circle of beneficiaries not only usurps power, but actually replaces the institution of the state.

The Constitution is unceremoniously turned into an instrument of authoritarian power. This will be a “Putin’s” constitution – with the system of organisation of power proposed by Putin, and the possibility of any changes at the initiative of Putin.

The Putin system is afraid of political competition and, therefore, bashfully hushes up the alternative amendments developed at the initiative of the Public Constitutional Council by the country’s best constitutional lawyers that strengthen the Constitution, implement the idea of ​​expanding citizen participation in the life of the state, and form a system of genuine democracy and the rule of law.

Given the continuous fraud that the Russian authorities have organised during the elections of all levels in recent decades, we understand how the “voting results” will be announced: the pre-programmed percentages will be “determined” through lies and fraud.

The tasks of our party, Yabloko supporters, and responsible citizens are not limited to the day (or rather, the days) set aside for voting. They are not in adapting to new conditions, not in the struggle for a “place in the sun” in Putin’s mafia-corporate system. We are entering into a struggle against the consolidation of this system, its transformation into an uncontested reality.

We are certain that the attitude to the amendments proposed to the Russians should be formed according to the principle: “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or … sit in the seat of mockers”.

In addition, we consider it our political responsibility to declare that, given the unpredictable development of the coronavirus pandemic, the so-called “nation-wide vote”, in addition to its illegality and insolvency, is also extremely risky for the health of citizens. In fact, health and, possibly, the lives of citizens are sacrificed for political manipulation and the desire to maintain a lifelong power.

The Federal Political Committee considers it fundamentally unacceptable for the Party as a constitutional political institution to participate in unlawful, unconstitutional, fake voting, the sole purpose of which is to draw society into the establishment of irremovable power in Russia and the consolidation of a corporate authoritarian regime in the country.

At the same time, we respect all legal forms of civil protest against the so-called “amendments” and the procedures for dragging them in, for example, voting against or crossing out ballots. The main thing is the understanding that the upcoming “popular approval” is illegal, has an antisocial character, and its results cannot have legal force.

Our goal is to build on the site of the Putin system a modern democratic state with rule of law, accountable and controlled by the Russian people and governed by law and justice. We will continue this work while there are at least minimal opportunities for the activities of the opposition Party.

Grigory Yavlinsky,

Chairman of the Yabloko Federal Political Committee