Is
Modernisation in Russia Possible? Interview
with Grigory Yavlinsky and Boris Titov by Yury Pronko,
"The Real Time" programme, Radio Finam, May
12, 2010
Photo from the official web-site of the Central District Court of Kaliningrad
The Central District Court of Kaliningrad declared unlawful the refusal of the administration of the city district to permit single pickets of the local branch of Yabloko, which were planned to be held near the entrances to the buildings of the administration and government of the Kaliningrad region using prefabricated demountable constructions. Officials referred to the anti-COVID resolution of the regional government.
In Kirov, winners and prize-winners of the All-Russian Academic Olympics for Schoolchildren were awarded memorable ketchup and mayonnaise.
Alexei Chumakov’s blog post, 7.06.2021
Photo from the official web-site of the Kirov administration
In Kirov, winners and prize-winners of the All-Russian Academic Olympics for Schoolchildren were awarded memorable ketchup and mayonnaise. The head of the Kirov administration Dmitry Osipov admonished talented children in the following way: “Not everyone succeeds in achieving high results, but you did it. I would like so that each of you stayed in this city and applied your knowledge for its development”.
Today Vladimir Putin has signed a law prohibiting citizens associated with “extremist” organisations from being elected as deputies. The content of this law is absurd in the best traditions of the adoption of insane laws by the State Duma, and allows absolutely any person to be accused of having links with extremists, allows to accuse absolutely any citizen of this terribly sounding crime. Any organisation undesirable for the authorities can be declared extremist.
Boris Vishnevsky’s blog post at the Ekho Moskvi web-site, 4.06.2021
Photo from the official web-site of the President of Russia/ http://www.kremlin.ru
The St. Petersburg International Economic Forum is a depressing sight.
Not only because there are many respectable men in expensive suits, traveling in expensive cars in the centre of the city (I saw myself yesterday, when I was going to work to the Mariyinsky Palace [where the Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg is located] passing by the Astoria, Lotte and Petro Palace hotels).
Not only because a million is demanded for participation in the forum and the right to “socialise” among a number of high-ranking officials.
On Monday, 31 May, the first meeting within the framework of the cycle of international online seminars “Time for Women” took place. The topic of the seminars is gender equality and advancement of women, the events are organised by the European Dialogue Expert Group and the Gender Faction of the Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko. The first session was devoted to the topic “Discrimination Against Women and the Fight for Gender Equality: European Experience and Its Applicability in Russia”.
Photo: Businessman Igor Chaika. /Photo by Ramil Sitdikov, RIA Novosti
The Public Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia got acquainted with the investigation of the “garbage business” of the sons of ex Public Prosecutor General Yury Chaika, but did not find any facts of violation of the law, follows from the answer of S. Parshina, Assistant to Public Prosecutor General of Russia. The Yabloko Anti-Corruption Policy Centre sent an inquiry to the Public Prosecutor General’s Office following a joint investigation by Novaya Gazeta, the 7×7 journal and Transparency International (the latter is entered by the Ministry of Justice into the register of foreign agents).
Decision of the Small Council of the Public Constitutional Council, 1.06.2021
Photo by Pavel Lisitsyn / RIA Novosti
When preparing amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation in July 2020, as well as in order to implement its amendments, as of May 25, 2021, four federal constitutional laws were adopted, 52 federal laws and 41 draft laws are under consideration in the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation, in total amendments are introduced into more than 170 legislative acts of the federal level.
A significant part of adopted package of legislative acts does not comply with the principles of a democratic state structure (Article 1), the rule of law (Articles 1, 4, and 15), democracy (Article 2), ideological diversity (Article 13 Part 1), the priority of international law (Article 15 Part 4), separation of powers (Articles 10 – 11) and independence of local self-government bodies (Article 12), stipulated by the First Chapter of the Constitution of the Russian Federation, and which are the foundations of the constitutional order.
Photo: Dmitry Gudkov at the Yabloko congress. /Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The Yabloko leaders expressed solidarity with Dmitry Gudkov, Andrei Pivovarov and other opposition figures whose houses are being searched today.
NIKOLAI RYBAKOV, CHAIRMAN OF THE YABLOKO PARTY:
– On the eve of the elections to the State Duma, the authorities intensified cleaning up of the political environment in the country. New prohibitive laws, liquidation of political organisations, searches in the houses of Dmitry Gudkov and Alexander Solovyov, the case against Andrei Pivovarov for a repost are part of this process. Its goal is to destroy the very possibility to legally engage in politics in the country.
Many have already heard about the fees for participation in the St.Petersburg International Economic Forum 2021. The topic became relevant after Anastasia Tatulova, Ombudsperson on Small Business, was invited to speak at the forum for 960,000 roubles. This is the cost of a ticket (even for small businesses), so that to talk to top officials. However, not everyone spends their own money, as, after all, there is a country’s budget for this.
The Volzhsky District Court of Saratov declared unlawful the refusal of the authorities to give a permission for Yabloko’s campaign cubes in Saratov and ordered the city administration to review the Yabloko notifications of installation of the cubes again.
Earlier, the Saratov administration had not permitted picketing and distribution of the Yabloko newspaper in streets of the city.
Photo: Vladimir Putin and Vladimir Uyba. /Photo by kremlin.ru
Alexei Karnaukhov, head of the Anti-Corruption Policy Centre of the Yabloko party, appealed to the Public Prosecutor General of Russia with a demand to check the legality of actions in the recent event of an oil spill and the ambiguous statements of Vladimir Uyba, the head of the Komi Republic.
Photo: The results of primaries if the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko/Infographics by the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko
On 26 May, the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko summed up the results of the primaries. The winners of the primaries will be recommended by the regional branch to the Yabloko party Congress for nomination as parliamentary candidates from Yabloko in single-mandate constituencies in the Chelyabinsk region.
The “European Dialogue” expert group together with the Gender Faction of the Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko opens a cycle of international online seminars “Time for Women” on gender equality and the advancement of women in Russia and the world.
The first meeting will be held on Monday, May 31, at 19.00. It will be devoted to “Discrimination Against Women and the Fight for Gender Equality: European Experience and Its Applicability in Russia”.
Residents of 53 Russian cities will receive the Yabloko party’s newspaper, timed to coincide with the launch of the election campaign. By 15 June, Yabloko plans to distribute 1.5 million newspapers.
This issue of the newspaper is devoted to the most urgent topics: the pandemics, the economic crisis, the consequences of changing the Constitution, Russia’s so-called garbage reform, and Yabloko’s actions in these fields.
On 23 May, 2021, an act of state terrorism was committed in Belarus.
On the direct order by Alexander Lukashenko, a passenger plane of the Irish airline Ryanair flying over Belarus was landed in Minsk with the help of deceit (false information about a bomb) and threats (a scrambled military fighter jet).
After that, the Belarusian KGB detained Roman Protasevich, an opposition journalist and former editor of the Telegram channel NEXTA, and Russian citizen Sofya Sapega. Both of them are arrested.
Photo: Alexander Kobrinsky / Photo from the personal archive
During unpermitted rallies on 23 and 31 January, the majority of those detained were in St. Petersburg. St.Petersburg police not only dispersed peaceful people with inexplicable cruelty, but also drove them into police vans by hundreds, so that to draw up protocols of violation of the law and take them to court.
The Yabloko party has never called on people to go to unpermitted actions, however, the party has always helped those who were detained at such actions and found themselves in a difficult situation.
Alexander Kobrinsky, a lawyer and one of the leaders of the Petersburg branch of Yabloko, has been defending detainees in courts for over 15 years. And now, after the January events, he defended people in more than ten cases. Not a single case was lost: five cases were closed due to lack of corpus delicti, in one case a previously assigned fine was canceled in the court of the higher instance. The rest of the cases are still in progress, but the defender hopes for a successful outcome.
Late in the evening of 24 May, the Novgorod District Court imposed fines on Viktor Shalyakin, the Chairman of the Novgorod branch of Yabloko, and Vitaly Bovar, the Deputy Chairman of the Council of Deputies of the St. Petersburg municipality Vladimirsky District. Yabloko members participated in the municipal deputies congress (Zemsky Congress) convened in Novogod on 22 May and dispersed by police. According to the court, Yabloko members violated Article 19.3 Part 1 of the Administrative Code (“Defiance to a lawful order of a police officer…”) Viktor Shalyakin and Vitaly Bovar, and fines amounting to 3,000 roubles were imposed on them.
On Saturday, 22 May, the authorities of Novgorod (North-West Russia) carried out another police action targeted at the intimidation of civil society. The unlawful dispersal of the congress of municipal deputies from different Russian cities (Zemsky Congress) and the detention of its organisers correspond to the trend towards a general ban on mass political events in our country. The events in Novgorod became another proof that there is no constitutionally guaranteed freedom of assembly in Russia.
Photo: Roman Protasevich /Photo from social networks
Opposition journalist Roman Protasevich [from Belarus] was kidnapped by special services in Minsk. For this purpose, a passenger plane of the Irish airline Ryanair flying over Belarus was forced to land at the Minsk airport by means of provocation (under the pretext of an allegedly planted bomb in the plane) and with the help of a scrambled military fighter jet.
What happened represents state air terrorism, an insolent international crime. Alexander Lukashenko ordered the hijacking of a foreign civilian plane to kidnap a political opponent. All responsibility for the act of international aviation terrorism rests with Lukashenko and the Belarusian regime. There is no doubt that there will be international consequences.
Photo: Ksenia Sverdlova / Photo by the Press Service of the Saratov branch of Yabloko
Police officers came to the office of the Saratov branch of Yabloko. The police said that they were looking for the Chair of the regional branch of the party, Ksenia Sverdlova, so that to bring her to administrative responsibility, but refused to cite the article of the Administrative Code, according to which they plan to bring the politician to responsibility.
