Is
Modernisation in Russia Possible? Interview
with Grigory Yavlinsky and Boris Titov by Yury Pronko,
"The Real Time" programme, Radio Finam, May
12, 2010
The Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan (Tatarstan) sentenced the participants of the movement against the construction of a waste incineration plant near Osinovo to arrest and fines. Yelena Izotova, one of the leaders of the movement and Chair of Yabloko’s Green Russia faction in Tatarstan, was arrested for five days for participating in a series of one-person pickets (that do not require any permission from the authorities). During the action, Izotova demanded resignation of Artyom Khokhorin, Minister of Internal Affairs of Tatarstan, for breaking up (in late December 2019) of the tent camp of opponents of the construction of the waste incineration plant. Three more activists ended up in court after they came to the police department to support Elena Izotova. One of them was sentenced to a ten days arrrest, the other were sentenced to fines and compulsory community service.
I his annual Address to the Federal Assembly, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed amending the Russian Constitution, apparently aimed at preserving him at the top of state power even after 2024, when his presidential term expires. Much was said about overcoming poverty in the country, which he has been leading for more than 20 years. Other important topics of the Address, which Yabloko leaders emphasise in their commentaries, are the actual liquidation of supremacy of international law and local self-government in the country.
Today’s Presidential Address [to the parliament] has finally returned us to the Leonid Brezhnev [stagnation] period [in the USSR]: slow reading of the text written on paper, silent audience but bursting into applause at the right moments.
Certainly, the directors of the event counted on resounding success of the promises of Vladimir Putin. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain why they broadcasted the Address even on the facades of houses. Many social promises have been made, and someone may find them attractive, but it is obvious that they are not able to defeat poverty as a problem and will not affect the real difficulties of the Russians.
Vladimir Putin has spoken with an Address to the Federal Assembly. People want change, the President said. And he proposed to amend the Constitution. So that no international courts, no international law would any longer interfere with the Construction of an isolated authoritarian (that is, sovereign, as Putin thinks) state. So that the State Duma (in the condition it is now) would approve the government, which the President will be able to dismiss at any time. So that the court would look independent from everyone and everything except the President. Well, and changes, obviously, mean the transfer of [now ex PM] Medvedev from the government to the Security Council.
First. Isolation of Russia from the system of international law, that is, the impossibility of protecting the rights and freedoms of Russian citizens on the basis of international law. This virtually means Russia’s withdrawal from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights and, possibly, other international supranational institutions. It also creates the possibility of adoption in Russia of legal norms directly contradicting the international law. This is expressly prohibited by the current Constitution.
The police in Yekaterinburg opened a criminal case under Article 119 Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (threat of death or serious bodily harm) at the request of the assistant to Konstantin Kiselyov, deputy of the Yekaterinburg City Duma. Such answers came to Emilia Slabunova, ex Yabloko Chair and member of Yabloko’s Federal Political Committee, from the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Main Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Sverdlovsk region.
The police emphasise that operational-search and investigative measures are currently being conducted to identify the person who committed the crime.
Winter holidays in Moscow, St. Petersburg and in many cities of the country passed almost without snow.
At the same time, news lines were filled with reports of large-scale fires in Australia, the area of which is four times larger today than the area of the forest that burnt in Siberia last summer.
Against this background, even skeptics started talking about climate change. Forest fires are a natural process for nature, but in the recent decades they begin earlier, last longer and cause more damage. This is influenced by both thoughtless human activities (deliberate arson of forests in the Amazon up to clearing up areas for agriculture or burning of grass or agricultural residues in spring in the fields in Russia), as well as frequent extreme weather events (the highest temperature for all history of observations was recorded in Australia this year).
On Sunday, 19 January, activists of the Yabloko party will lay flowers at the site of the murder of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova in Prechistenka street, Moscow.
Markelov and Baburova were killed that day in 2009 by neo-Nazis from the BORN group.
Despite the fact that last year the Russian economy grew by only 1 per cent and is still in the midst of a deep recession, this did not affect the growth of the welfare of Russian billionaires. They got good dividends in 2019. Thus, the total fortune of all Russian billionaires has grown by almost 53 billion dollars, which is a record high indicator for the past four years.
Konstantin Smirnov, Chairman of the Ryazan branch of Yabloko, appealed to the regional Ministry of Internal Affairs with a request to institute criminal proceedings against Alexei Demakhin, General Director of the Ryazan Oil Refinery, a subsidiary of Rosneft.
The leader of the regional branch of Yabloko notes that the regulatory authorities and the court five years ago established the responsibility of the Ryazan Oil Refinery for air emissions from which Ryazan residents suffered. However, the company did not take any measures to stop emissions and refused to reconstruct the treatment facilities.
On Saturday, 4 January, initiative groups that are members of the Green Coalition held a series of one-person pickets in Nevsky Prospekt, St.Petersburg. The purpose of the action is to draw attention to the environmental problems of St. Petersburg and building up of urban gardens and parks. Anatoly Golov, member of the Bureau of the Yabloko Party, took part in the picketing. He participated in the action with a poster in defence of one of city parks.
The Elisata Court assigned 30 hours of compulsory community service to Batyr Boromangnaev, Chairman of the Kalmyk branch of Yabloko, for organization and conducting the rally on 27 October. Earlier, the politician received 25 hours of compulsory community service as the organiser of the gathering on 29 September, and another 20 hours for participation in the prayer on 1 October. In total, the court assigned 75 hours of compulsory work to the leader of the Kalmyk Yabloko.
They built a bridge from Taman to Kerch. It turned out three times more expensive than same kind of bridges in the world. They built it on budget money, and in our state and in such cases part of this money will be stolen. Like was the case with the Vostochny Cosmodrome.
The winner of the anti-award will be determined by Internet voting
Press Release, 24.12.2019
Yabloko’s Anti-Corruption Policy Centre has identified nominees for the annual anti-award for “wasting the budget” via public procurement contracts. The list of nominees of 2019 includes the Minister of Culture of Russia Vladimir Medinsky for bidding on behalf of the Ministry of Culture for a contract for provision of services and organisation of screening of the documentary “I ought my millions to their work…” in Switzerland, as well as Public Prosecutor General Yury Chaika for purchasing golf cars for 3 million roubles for the Public Prosecutor General’s Office.
The Volgograd branch of Yabloko demanded that the Volgograd Mayor’s Office and the Public Prosecutor’s Office check whether the Communist Party had the right to install a bust of Joseph Stalin in Volgograd. Yabloko’s Dmitry Lyubitenko posted a petition on the Internet demanding that the monument be dismantled.
The Moskovsky District Court of St.Petersburg upheld the lawsuit from Yabloko candidates demanding cancellation of the results of the recount of votes at polling station No 1290 of the MosKovskaya Zastava municipality, which resulted in two mandates being stolen from Yabloko.
After the decision comes into force, Yabloko members Kirill Kasimov and Dmitry Dekhambayev will receive the mandates in this municipality (they were the plaintiffs in the case). Alexander Shatyrkin, representative of the ruling United Russia party, and self-nominated Pavel Tripolka will lose their mandates.
According to the plaintiffs, the recount of votes redistributed the votes exactly in favour of Shatyrkin and Tripolka. The defendants have the right to appeal the decision of the district court to a court of a higher instance.
Tomorrow the Commission of the Moscow City Duma on Urban Economy and Housing Policies will consider the bill of deputy Sergei Mitrokhin on amendments to the law “On provision of urban amenities in Moscow”.
The amendments oblige the Moscow government to coordinate with Muscovites improvement projects for courtyards, streets and squares.
Statement by the Yabloko faction in the Moscow City Duma, 16.12.2019
The Commission on the organisation of the work of the Moscow City Duma rejected the question of the Yabloko faction to the Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin.
Daria Besedina, Yabloko MP of the Moscow City Duma, was going to ask the Moscow Mayor if he felt responsible for the fate of those who were being prosecuted for participating in protests this summer. Also it should be noted that a search was conducted in the apartment of Besedina then.
Grigory Yavlinsky, Chairman of the Yabloko Federal Political Committee, made a political report at the 21st Party Congress (full transcript in Russian is here). The report dealt with Russia’s domestic and foreign policies, the situation in Russian economy, as well as the challenges that Yabloko faces today.
Chairman of the Yabloko Party spoke about his plans on a new post during a press briefing
Press Release, 15.12.2019
Photo: Nikolai Rybakov
For the first time Nikolai Rybakov answered questions from journalists as Chairman of the Yabloko party. At a briefing that began on the second day of the Yabloko congress, Rybakov said that the party’s main task would be to prepare for the State Duma elections in 2021, this work would begin immediately after the congress.
