Press Release, 22.02.2022

Photo: Anti-war action “The Peace March” in Moscow, 2014. Photo by Anatoly Zhdanov/Kommersant

Over 20,000 Russian citizens signed Yabloko’s petition for peace with Ukraine on the website of the Yabloko party as of the evening of 22 February.

The collection of signatures began on 13 February. The first 10,000 signatures were collected by 19 February. After the situation in Donbass began aggravating, and especially after yesterday’s meeting of the Russian Security Council, the pace of collection has increased dramatically, and in three days the number of signatures has doubled.

The party plans to go on with collection of signatures and transfer them to the Russian government.

In conditions when other forms of collective anti-war actions are virtually impossible, the collection of signatures allows people not only to express their stance, but also to add their voice to the voices of like-minded people, Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov says.

It should be noted that Yabloko condemned the decision of the Russian authorities to recognise the independence of the “Donetsk People’s Republic” and the “Luhansk People’s Republic”. “In the current situation, this is a step towards a sharp increase in tension, fraught with bloodshed,” the Yabloko party statement runs.

Yabloko expressed confidence that sooner or later the negotiation process between Russia and Ukraine will be continued, and the basis for the discussion will be the plan for peaceful settlement in Donbass proposed by Yabloko back in 2017.