Is
Modernisation in Russia Possible? Interview
with Grigory Yavlinsky and Boris Titov by Yury Pronko,
"The Real Time" programme, Radio Finam, May
12, 2010
Boris Vishnevsky, head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, submitted to the city parliament a bill envisaging a rent waiver on non-residential premises for small and medium-sized businesses, as well as non-profit organisations they rent from the city of St.Petersburg for the entire period of validity of the restrictions related to the spread of COVID-19 infection in St. Petersburg. Anatoly Golov, member of the Yabloko party Bureau and Co-Chair of the Consumers Union of Russia, took part in the development of the draft law.
* St. George ribbons in Russia are considered to be a symbol of the USSR victory in the Second World War.
The Russian government, instead of allocating funds for the purchase of the necessary number of personal protection equipment (masks, respirators, gloves, protective suits and so on), which are lacking in hospitals and clinics, and which are not available in many pharmacies, decided to monopolise their wholesale and retail adopting Resolution No. 431 of April 3.
Now everything is in the hands of the “federal operator” AO Roskhimzashchita (managed by Rostech, the State Corporation for Assistance to Development, Production and Export of Advanced Technology Industrial Product) and its “regional operators”.
Boris Vishnevsky, head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, sent a request to Oleg Ergashev, Vice Governor of St.Petersburg city, as well as Kirill Soloveichik, head of the Committee on Industry and Trade.
The Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko called on Alexei Teksler, Governor of the Chelyabinsk Region, to ensure compliance with the sanitary-epidemiological measures by the collectives of industrial enterprises the region is rich with.
Yabloko activists note that key industrial enterprises of the Chelyabinsk region resume or continue their work, but their employees do not have personal protective equipment. Moreover, there were no checks how enterprises observe sanitary and epidemiological standards at the majority of factories and plants.
Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov sent an appeal to the heads of several Russian regions. He called for redirection of funds allocated to the regional budgets for campaigning on the all-Russian voting on constitutional amendments to the needs of healthcare and aid to citizens in a difficult situation.
Appeal by the Novgorod branch of Yabloko, 6.04.2020
Photo: Anna Cherepanova
Anna Cherepanova, Chair of the Novgorod branch of the Yabloko party and deputy of the Duma of Veliky Novgorod, sent an appeal to Governor Andrei Nikitin to immediately take anti-crisis measures and provide aid to people and businesses.
Statement by the Novgorod branch of Yabloko, 3.04.2020
On 2 April, 2020, the head and members of the independent Alliance of Doctors medical workers union carried out a humanitarian mission in the Novgorod Region. Medical union workers brought by car medical masks, goggles, protective suits, and disinfectants to the hospitals and ambulance stations, which are lacking in the region’s health facilities. In the absence of personal protective equipment, doctors, paramedics, and nurses assisting patients daily endanger their lives.
The situation in Russia has been rapidly changing for the worse. The number of people affected by COVID-19 infection has been growing every day.
In most regions, bans and restrictions have been imposed on the work of enterprises and organisations in public catering, trade, tourism, culture, sports, entertainment and most services. This deprives a huge number of citizens and enterprises of means of subsistence and threatens to ruin a significant part of small and medium-sized businesses.
The Yabloko party believes that in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic urgent measures must be taken to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in places of custodial restraint, and demands to conduct an urgent and broadest amnesty.
The web-site will generate proposals on measures to support those affected by the quarantine measures and the economic crisis. In addition, the website contains the proposals of the Yabloko party, as well as support measures voiced by federal and regional authorities.
The regional branch of the Yabloko party in the Ryazan region considers vacation of Yulia Rokotyanskaya, head of the municipality – the city of Ryazan and Chair of the Ryazan City Duma, during an active struggle against coronavirus be blatant cynicism.
The USA directs 9 per cent of its GDP to support people and the economy, the UK about 14 per cent and Germany over 20 per cent. Russia has so far allocated only 0.3 per cent of its GDP for medicine, aid to private businesses and the population.
Where to get the money from? Russia does have financial reserves:
The National Welfare Fund – 8.3 trillion roubles;
Gold and foreign exchange reserves – USD 580 billion;
Russia’s budget is 20 trillion roubles with a surplus of about 2 trillion roubles.
The Nizhny Novgorod branch of Yabloko called on Gleb Nikitin, Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, to abolish fees for capital repairs of housing in the situation of quarantine for COVID-19 and compensate for 30 per cent of residents payments for utilities at the expense of the regional budget.
Photo: Arthur Gaiduk, an ambulance doctor and MP of the Pskov Regional Assembly (the Yabloko faction)
Arthur Gaiduk, an ambulance doctor and deputy of the Pskov Regional Assembly from the Yabloko party, gave a commentary to the Press Service of the Pskov branch of Yabloko on the situation with COVID-19 in the region and the safety of healthcare staff.
On March 29, the Omsk regional branch of the Yabloko party held the reporting and election conference. The Omsk Yabloko activists elected the governing bodies of the branch for the next two years.
The current Chair Tatyana Nagibina was unanimously elected Chair of the Omsk branch of Yabloko.
Chairman of Yabloko Nikolai Rybakov sent the authorities a programme of socio-economic and political measures developed by the party to overcome the crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The document was sent to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, members of both houses of parliament, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, as well as to the relevant ministries – the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development and the Ministry of Healthcare.
On 28 March, delegates of the 22nd Extraordinary Conference of the Saratov branch of Yabloko elected a new Chair of the regional branch. According to the results of the secret ballot, Ksenia Sverdlova was elected to the post. Ilya Kozlyakov and Fedor Demyanchuk were elected Vice-Chairmen.
On 27 March, the Yabloko Bureau voted for the opening of a regional party branch in the Jewish Autonomous Region. Ten residents of the region were admitted to the party and registered as party members in the region. Now the General Meeting of Yabloko members in the Jewish Autonomous Region will have to elect the governing bodies of the regional branch. The General Meeting will be held after the normalisation of the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic.
On 27 March, the Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan, the Republic of Tatarstan, assigned a fine of 150,000 roubles to Marina Shoetova, supporter of the Tatrstan branch of Yabloko. The court hearing was held in a video conferencing regime.
The law enforcement and the court considered the series of one-person pickets (that do not require any permissions from the authorities) against Vladimir Putin’s amendments to the Constitution, which took place in Kazan on March 9, to be a mass-scale picket. According to them, Shoetova was the organiser of the action and had to coordinate it with the city authorities. The activist and her lawyer Rushan Kabirov indicated in the protocol that they did not agree with the arguments of the police. The defence plans to appeal the court decision.
According to Yabloko, the Russian authorities should provide all possible support to citizens facing the threat of not only becoming infected with coronavirus, but also losing their means of subsistence, as well as private businesses. The party has developed a programme of urgent measures, consisting of 20 points of a socio-economic measures and five points of a political measures. Sources of funding the implementation of the programme, which the party recognises as “expensive”, should come from the National Welfare Fund, gold and foreign exchange reserves, as well as cutting of spending on defence, law enforcement agencies, and a bloated state apparatus.
