Is
Modernisation in Russia Possible? Interview
with Grigory Yavlinsky and Boris Titov by Yury Pronko,
"The Real Time" programme, Radio Finam, May
12, 2010
Alexandra Nalobina, member of the Novosibirsk branch of Yabloko, went on a one-person picket (such pickets do not require a permission from the authorities) for the freedom of prisoners of the so-called “Moscow riots case” and against political repression. The picket took place by the Studencheskaya metro station, which is located next to the Novosibirsk Technological University.
On 7 November, the Moscow branch of Yabloko held its traditional action honouring the memory of officers and pupils of military schools who fought in the streets of Moscow against usurpation of power by the Bolsheviks in 1917.
For the first time, an action in memory of those who with arms in their hands opposed the Bolshevik coup d’etat, was held on the initiative of Sergei Mitrokhin more than ten years ago. Every year, activists of the Moscow Yabloko lay flowers and erect a temporary memorial plaque near Znamenka 19, the building of the former Alexandrovsky Military School, where the headquarters of resistance to the Bolsheviks was organised.
Achievements of President Putin’s four-year policy in the Middle East
by Grigory Yavlinsky
Grigory Yavlinsky’s web-site, 28.10.2019
President Putin agreed to Turkey’s seizure of Syria’s border area and told President Erdogan that he was ready to send Russian soldiers to the Syrian-Turkish border to help the Turks monitor the expulsion of the Kurds from lands that they had inhabited for centuries. This is the crux of the document signed last week in Sochi by Putin and Erdogan. All the other matters revolved around platitudes and general promises.
It goes without saying that the agreement was signed without the participation of the Kurds and Syrians, who are still nominal owners of the lands whose “political unity and territorial integrity” the Russian and Turkish leaders intend to maintain, judging by the Sochi Memorandum. Pursuant to the understanding, Turkey will terminate the military operation against the Kurds if they leave the “security zone” designated in the memorandum by the established deadlines.
Nikolai Rybakov on the decision of the Supreme Court
Press Release, 1.11.2019
Photo: Lev Ponomaryov
On November 1, the Supreme Court ruled to liquidate themovement “For Human Rights”, created in 1997 by Lev Ponomaryov. A lawsuit demanding the liquidation of the organisation was filed by the Ministry of Justice on October 11. The reason for going to court was violations in the charter of the organisation, which “For Human Rights” proposed to correct during the next Congress, but the Ministry of Justice refused to postpone the deadlines. Another reason is a violation of the law on foreign agents. Lev Ponomaryov never recognised “For Human Rights” as a foreign agent, for which he was repeatedly fined. These grounds also formed the basis of the claim.
The opposition in the Moscow City Duma has made the Moscow authorities to conduct public hearings on the draft budget for Moscow for 2020. The hearing will be held in the Public Chamber of Moscow today, on 5 November. The lack of a public hearing was one of the reasons why the Yabloko faction voted against the draft budget in the first reading.
Again, on the third Friday in a row, on 1 November, the so-called “metropickets” (one-person pickets that do not require permission from the authorities and are conducted by most popular metro stations) organised by the Association of Independent Municipal Deputies took place in Moscow: the Association invites everyone to participate in one-person pickets by Moscow metro stations. The aim of the action is to protest against the so-called “Moscow riots” case and demand the release of political prisoners. On 1 November picketing took place by 49 metro stations. Representatives of Yabloko also participated in the action.
Lubyanka, 2019. Returning of the Names, an action in memory of victims of political repressions – millions of people were killed [in Stalin’s period]. This is a crime of the Stalin’s regime and the entire Bolshevik system. But the Russian authorities still refuse to give an official legal assessment to all of this. The propaganda of Stalinism is only increasing. They still vote for Stalinists-Communists. The modern Putin’s system is built entirely on the unlawful authoritarian-personalist government of the country (see “Great Terror and Modern Bolshevism” http://eng.yabloko.ru/?p=18017 ).
Leaders and activists of Yabloko took part in the Returning of the Names action
Press Release, 30.10.2019
On 29 October, on the eve of the Day of Remembrance of Victims of Political Reprisals, Yabloko leaders and activists took part in the action Returning of the Names organised by the Memorial human rights society.
Thousands of people come to the Solovetsky stone in Lubyanka Square – the country’s oldest monument to victims of state repression – to read out loud the names of those who were shot during Stalin’s Great Terror. Participants in the action have been receiving sheets with the name of only one repressed person, due to the large number of participants of the action in the recent years: there is name and surname, age, profession and date of execution. Many of the participants also read out loud the names of their repressed relatives, and demanded freedom for Yury Dmitriev, head of the Karelian branch of the Memorial human rights centre and also urged to release the prisoners of the so-called the “Moscow riots case”.
Grigory Yavlinsky, Yabloko founder and Chairman of the Federal Political Committee of the Party, took part in the action.
Grigory Yavlinsky pays tribute to the memory of the legendary human rights defender
Condolences from Grigory Yavlinsky, 28.10.2019
Vladimir Bukovsky, legendary human rights defender and Soviet dissident died at the age of 76. In 2007, Bukovsky supported Yabloko in the State Duma elections; in 2008, Yabloko supported Bukovsky’s nomination for the presidency of Russia.
Grigory Yavlinskym Chairman of the Yabloko Federal Political Committee, expresses condolences on the death of Vladimir Bukovsky:
On the evening of 22 October, security officials (presumably employees of the Investigative Committee), accompanied by cameras of the NTV television channel, came to the Moscow office of the human rights organisation Committee “For Civil Rights”, headed by Andrei Babushkin, member of the federal Bureau of the Yabloko party.
Photo: Vladimir Putin and Mikhail Fedotov. Photo by RIA Novosti
President Vladimir Putin signed a decree appointing Valery Fadeyev, former anchor of the Vremya programme on Channel One, as the new head of the Human Rights Council. At the same time, Putin signed a decree on changing the composition of the Council. Political scientist Yekaterina Shulman, head of the Agora human rights organization Pavel Chikov, professor of the Higher School of Economics Ilya Shablinsky, head of the Voskhod human rights organisation Yevgeny Bobrov, and former head of the Presidential Human Rights Council Mikhail Fedotov were expelled from the Council.
In addition, Vladimir Putin appointed new Council members: Kirill Vyshinsky, Executive director of the Rossiya Segodnya (Russia Today) Tatyana Merzlyakova, human rights Ombudsperson in the Sverdlovsk Region, and Alexander Tochyonov, President of the Centre for Applied Research and Programmes.
Nina Dumnova, Chair of the Yabloko branch in the Altai Republic, called on Viktor Romashkin, Chairman of the Committee on Legislation, Law and Order and Local Self-Ggovernment of the State Council of the Republic, to include the issue of the popular election of the mayor of Gorno-Altaysk and the heads of municipalities of the region in the agenda of the upcoming session
On Tuesday, 22 October, a meeting of the Yabloko’s faction in Moscow City Duma with Moscow municipal deputies will be held in the Yabloko office. The topic of the meeting is as follows: What the budget of Moscow for 2020 should be.
On 15 October, the Moscow Mayor’s Office submitted to the Moscow City Duma a draft city budget for the next year and a planned period of 2021 and 2022, as well as a draft budget of the Moscow Fund for Compulsory Medical Insurance for the same period.
The branch of Yabloko in Tatarstan will hold a rally against political reprisals. The action will be held in Kazan on 2 November and is dedicated to the day of memory of victims of political reprisals, as well as the international day to end impunity for crimes against journalists. The action starts at 13.00.
Members of the Yabloko party came out on one-person pickets
Press Release, 19.10.2019
On Friday, October 18, one-person pickets (that do not require permissions from the authorities) were organised by the Association of Independent Municipal Deputies. Picketing took place by metro stations at the end of the working day. The purpose of the action was to draw attention to unlawfully convicted participants in summer rallies for fair elections, the so-called defendants in the “Moscow riots case”. Yabloko also joined the action in support of political prisoners.
Yabloko Chair Emilia Slabunova went out with the banner “Freedom for Political Prisoners” to Akademicheskaya metro station. She said that the true defendants in criminal cases should be those who participated in the rigging of the elections, who did not allow opposition candidates for elections to the Moscow City Duma, refused to give permissions for peaceful rallies, pickets, marches and demonstrations, and denied citizens the realisation of their constitutional rights. “The “Moscow riots case” is a completely shameful page in Russian history. All political prisoners must be immediately released,” Slabunova emphasised.
Question: What is “Putinism” and is it true that it is such a “political life hack”, as they write about it now?
Grigory Yavlinsky: “Putinism” means contempt for a person and his/her dignity, suppression of freedom, instilling fear, corruption, ignoring international law and increasing confrontation with developed countries of the world.
Yelena Dubrovina, member of the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko party, head of the Centre for Legislative Initiatives of the Yabloko party, honored lawyer of Russia, candidate of legal sciences and member of the Central Electoral Commission of Russia in 1999-2017, took part in the Ural Forum of Constitutional Law Experts, held in Yekaterinburg on 10-11 October, 2019. in her speech at the plenary meeting Dubrovina outlined the key problems of the electoral system of Russia, such as:
Daria Bolshakova, member of the Yabloko party and activist of the Kaliningrad branch of the Russian Feminist Association ONA, was found guilty of organising a mass rally without notifying the authorities (Article 20.2 Part 2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation), having awarded her a fine of 10,000 roubles. Daria Bolshakova and her defenders plan to appeal the decision.
Today, Yevgeny Bunimovich, Yabloko deputy of the Moscow City Duma and member of the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko, and an initiative group of residents brought to the Moscow Mayor’s Office signatures of Muscovites for preservation of the park and creation of a cultural centre in Khovrino presenting Moscow with the goal of preserving the park and creating a socio-cultural centre instead of the former Khovrino hospital which was abandoned and then pulled down.
Members and supporters of the Omsk branch of Yabloko took part in an environmental rally against urban air pollution. The protest rally was organised with the support of Tatyana Nagibina, Chair of the regional branch of the party.
The rally participants demanded that the authorities find sources of harmful emissions into the atmosphere, hold those responsible for air pollution accountable, and also opposed the construction of new hazardous chemical plants for the production of phenol in Omsk. It should be noted that 380 people signed under the resolution of the rally.
