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 Tula Regional Duma refuses large purchases of expensive cars for the regional parliaments and allocates these 5 million roubles for the purchase of ambulances. Vladimir Dorokhov, Chairman of the Tula Yabloko, noted that this happened exactly 24 hours after Yabloko’s publication of the video about the purchase by the Tula Regional Duma of two expensive cars of the executive class.
The Yabloko party insists that the government should take immediate measures to prevent the upsurge of domestic violence. Such measures include immediate reaction of the police to reports of violence, provision of a sufficient number of shelters for victims, hotel rooms inclusive, and cancellation of liability for violation of the isolation regime for victims.
Boris Vishnevsky, Deputy Chairman of Yabloko and leader of the party’s faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, together with members of the St. Petersburg branch of Yabloko, organised fundraising for the purchase of personal protective equipment for doctors working in St. Petersburg medical institutions.
In the context of the coronavirus pandemic and self-isolation, the number of cases of domestic violence against women, children and the elderly has significantly increased, whereas women are the first to become victims. This applies to all countries, emphasised UN Secretary General António Guterres.
In Russia, the situation is especially threatening: domestic violence is decriminalised, the law on the prevention of domestic violence has not been adopted; the number of shelters for victims of violence is catastrophically insufficient, some of them are closed due to a pandemic.
On Tuesday, 28 April, the Yabloko Party University will host an online lecture by Gasan Guseynov “Modern Russian political language”. The lecture will be held on the Zoom platform and will begin at 17.00 MSK.
Gasan Guseynov is Doctor of Philology, Professor at the Higher School of Economics, Moscow.
The Yabloko party has proposed to the Russian government a set of measures to support students and university professors in the situation of the coronavirus epidemic: cash payments to students (12,000 roubles) and university professors (50,000 roubles); transfer of students who have lost their jobs to state-financed places; interest-free loans for the purchase of equipment needed for distance learning; compensation for rental of housing for those who were evicted from dormitories by university authorities.
The collapse came out of the blue, although it was visible from afar
Grigory Yavlinsky’s web-site, 21.04.2020
The economic crisis is growing. Despite Russia’s deal with OPEC, world oil prices continue falling. According to the terms of the deal, from May 1, Russia should reduce oil production to 8.5 million barrels per day. On average, the production of crude oil itself (without gas condensate) in Russia is about 10.4 million bps, that is, Russian oil companies have to reduce production by 1.9 million bps. This reduction is 6.5 times higher than the level of decline in production by Russia (0.3 million bpd), which the other parties to the deal insisted in early March and which the Russian negotiators refused. The new reduction is about 33% of Russian oil exports. Such a sharp rollback from the initial claims is due to a serious miscalculation of the assessment of the impact of the epidemic on the global economy and the global drop in demand, i.e., the “force majeure circumstances” – it is simply nowhere to store the excess volumes, and the reduction will have to be carried out by way of established fact.
A statement by the Congress of the Intelligentsia was published on the Internet. The statement was signed by many prominent members of the Yabloko party, including party Chairman Nikolai Rybakov, Deputy Chairman Boris Vishnevsky, members of the Federal Political Committee Valery Borschyov, Svetlana Gannushkina, Emilia Slabunova, Viktor Sheinis and Lev Shlosberg, co-chair Human Rights Faction of the party Sergei Kovalev.
The Pskov regional branch of the Yabloko party held the fourth stage of its 23rd conference. The delegates elected new governing bodies of the branch, respecting social distancing and fulfilling the requirements of the federal law.
Photo: The Pskov Yabloko regional conference was held in the party office with respect to social distancing
The Yabloko Party University will host an online lecture by political scientist Alexander Duka. Alexander Duka is Candidate of Political Sciences, leading researcher, head of the Sector of the Sociology of Power and Civil Society in the Social Studies Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (a branch of the Federal Research Social Science Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg). His research interests lie in the field of power groups, elites, civil society and political culture.
On 21 April, the Yabloko Party University will host an online lecture by sociologist Yelena Zdravomyslova “Turning to the problems of an aging society in the Russian context”. The lecture will be held on the Zoom platform and will begin at 17.00.
We could observe the first results of the introduction of electronic passes in Moscow in [overcrowded] metro yesterday [due to the authorities total check of all the passengers for their passes]. To allow such a crowd in the subway at the midst of the epidemic and quarantine means to demonstrate a complete inability of governing in emergency conditions, in a situation of force majeure.
In the situation of the coronavirus epidemic, the Yabloko Party demands to immediately lift the ban on the import of medical devices, personal protective equipment and restrictions on the purchase of medicines.
Meanwhile, the ban imposed by the Government of Russia (Decree No. 813 of June 26, 2019) included, for example, artificial lung ventilation devices, medical gauze masks (sterile and non-sterile), medical devices containing antiseptic and disinfectant pharmaceuticals, medical clothing, rehabilitation tools for the disabled and much more.
Yabloko municipal deputies of the Ryazan region appealed to Governor Nikolai Lyubimov, Ivan Panchenko, regional Public Prosecutor, and Igor Grekov, Vice Governor and head of the coronavirus task force, in connection with the forced collection of money from state employees to fight against coronavirus. Deputies Konstantin Smirnov and Anatoly Kivva insist on an immediate cessation of pressure on state employees and forced collection of money. Yabloko deputies demand to punish those responsible for such a decision.
Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov appealed to President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to provide support to the entire sector of non-profit organisations, regardless of their type of activity and sources of funding. At the moment, the government is ordered to implement support measures only for non-profit organisations providing aid to citizens in the situation of COVID-19 pandemic.
Emilia Slabunova, MP of the Legislative Assembly of Karelia, member of the Yabloko party’s Federal Political Committee and Honored Teacher of Russia, criticised the education system for failing to organiae distance learning for pupils in self-isolation. The parliamentarian called on officials and deputies of the regional parliament to recognise the obvious fact and to support teachers and parents who encountered difficulties. Slabunova made such a statement at a meeting of the Education Committee of the Legislative Assembly.
Russian economist, politician & co-founder of @yabloko, @yavlinsky alerts us to the seriousness of the #COVID19 situation which requires honesty from the country’s leadership above all else…
Chairman of the Yabloko party Nikolai Rybakov continues forwarding appeals to the heads of Russian regions. He calls for redirecting the funds allocated in the regional budgets for campaigning in the all-Russian voting for Vladimir Putin’s constitutional amendments to needs of healthcare and assistance to citizens in difficult life situations.
The Yabloko faction in Moscow City Duma appealed to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin and Oleg Baranov, head of the Moscow Central Internal Affairs Directorate, in connection with large queues of passengers to enter metro stations and traffic jams at entrances to Moscow that emerged on April 15 after the introduction of digital passes introduced by the Moscow authorities during the COVID-19 epidemic.
Policemen came to Alexei Sadomovsky, Deputy Chairman of the Nizhny Novgorod branch of Yabloko. The policemen tried to give a warning about the inadmissibility of dissemination of fake information. Earlier, Alexei Sadomovsky published a post on social networks about how a girl was infected with a coronavirus in a hospital. On the advice of a lawyer, Sadomovsky refused to sign a warning, and also refused to give an explanation, referring to article 51 of the Constitution (“No one shall be obliged to give evidence incriminating themselves”).
