Is
Modernisation in Russia Possible? Interview
with Grigory Yavlinsky and Boris Titov by Yury Pronko,
"The Real Time" programme, Radio Finam, May
12, 2010
On January 16, Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov took part in the Facing the Event programme hosted by Yelena Rykovtseva. The guests of the studio – Sergey Obukhov, former State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Mikhail Fishman, journalist from the Dozhd television channel, and Mikhail Kasyanov, former Prime Minister of the Russian Federation, – discussed the appointment of Mikhail Mishustin as Prime Minister, what Russians can expect after amendments to the Constitution are adopted and the irremovability of power announced in the President’s Address [to the Federal Assembly].
On 26 January, a rally “For the quality of life and a clean city, against air pollution” will be held in Omsk. The rally is organised by Tatyana Nagibina, Chair of the Omsk branch of Yabloko, and is supported by the Omsk City Public Council. The rally will begin at 12.00.
The application for the march will be submitted for 29 February
Press Release, 20.01.2020
Kirill Goncharov, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow branch of Yabloko, and Galina Mikhaleva, Chair of the Gender Faction, Professor of the Russian State University for Humanities, joined the organizational committee of the Boris Nemtsov Memorial March on behalf of the Yabloko party. The march will take place on 29 February, the closest Saturday to the day of the assassination of Boris Nemtsov – 27 February.
Today, leaders, members and supporters of the Yabloko party paid tribute to lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova who were murdered by neo-Nazis from the BORN group on the doorstep of Prechistenka Street 3, Moscow, on 19 January, 2009. Yabloko has been holding memorial actions paying tribute to Markelov and Baburova for 11 years, since 2009, when this cynical murder was committed in the centre of Moscow.
Earlier, the activist was arrested for five days for participating in a series of one person pickets for the resignation of the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tatarstan
Press Release, 17.01.2020
Yelena Izotova, Chair of the Tatarstan Green Russia faction of the Yabloko party, went on a hunger strike. Earlier, the activist was arrested for five days for participating in a series of one person pickets (that do not require any permissions from the authorities) demanding resignation of Artyom Khokhorin, Minister of Internal Affairs for Tatarstan, for breaking up (in late December 2019) of the tent camp of opponents of the construction of the waste incineration plant.
State Duma deputies from the ruling United Russia Gadzhemet Safaraliyev, Yevgeny Marchenko and Valentin Subbot introduced amendments to the law on political parties to the lower house of the Russian parliament to liquidate the Yabloko party for “diminishing the authority of the state in the international arena”. The explanatory note to the bill gives only one example of the parties that, according to the authors of the bill, should be dissolved – the Yabloko party.
The initiatives contained in the annual Address of President Vladimir Putin to the Federal Assembly do not cause illusions. No significant changes or democratisation of the system is expected. The declared initiatives are targeted at strengthening the political system that has developed over the past 20 years and maintaining Putin in power after 2024. Life in the country will not become better, freer, and more honest.
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.
