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 1 February, numerous accidents occurred on high-voltage lines in 12 districts and areas of the Novgorod Region, which led to blackouts in more than 500 settlements. More than 25,000 rural residents were left without light, heat and water. For the fifth day, more than 240 villages and almost 4,000 people have been trying to survive in extreme conditions of winter. To date, the teams of energy workers, both local and attracted for from other regions, have not been able to eliminate all the accidents. On 3 February, a high alert regime was introduced. Yabloko considers such an attitude of the authorities to the problem of citizens unacceptable. The party demands that the Governor introduce a state of emergency.
Photo: Nikolai Rybakov with Tatyana Schneider and members of Omsk Yabloko at an animal shelter in Omsk, 2023 / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Tatyana Schneider, Chair of the Omsk regional branch of the Yabloko party, met with the First Deputy Governor Dmitry Ushakov to discuss the problems of handling stray animals. Tatyana Schneider and the First Deputy Governor discussed how to improve the implementation of the catch-sterilise-vaccinate-release (CSVR) programme, facilitating the work of charitable foundations and private shelters. The Legislative Assembly of the Omsk Region has not yet discussed the draft on legalization of the killing of stray animals, which has been implemented since November 2023 in some regions, and it was important for Yabloko to promptly offer the authorities an alternative and humane method for solving the problem of stray cats and dogs. The founder of the Tara Animal Aid Fund, Anastasia Ivashova, also took part in the meeting of the Omsk Yabloko with the Deputy Governor.
Residents of the Sudzha District, the Kursk Region, ask all who can help to open a humanitarian corridor for evacuation from the occupied territories. The appeal of Russian citizens was forwarded to the Deputy Chairman of Yabloko Lev Shlosberg for publication.
Photo: Activists of the Novgorod branch of Yabloko / Photo by the regional branch of the party
On 27 and 28 of January, members of the Yabloko party in the Novgorod Region began receiving calls via WhatsApp and Telegram from people introducing themselves as a Mr Sokolovsky and a Mr Sobolev, “secretaries” of Governor Andrei Nikitin, Ilya Bortsevich, deputy head of the governor’s administration, and a “FSB officer”. They tried to intimidate Yabloko members by threatening to include them in the list of “unreliable oppositionists,” sending security forces to their homes, and using violence against them. The Novgorod regional branch of the party contacted the police.
The regional branch of the Yabloko party in Tatarstan conducted an action “For Freedom of Speech and the Press” in Kazan, the capital of Tatarstan, on 1 February. Activists and supporters of Yabloko spoke out against censorship in mass media and persecution of journalists. Ruslan Zinatullin, Chairman of the Yabloko regional branch in Tatarstan, held a poster in support of Konstantin Smirnov, the editor-in-chief of the Ryazan Internet media Vid Sboku, who was placed in a pretrial detention centre on 31 January as part of a criminal case against him allegedly for extortion, but in fact – for his journalistic and political activities.
Photo: Konstantin Smirnov in the courtroom / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The court arrested Konstantin Smirnov, the leader of the Ryazan branch of Yabloko and deputy of the Dubrovichsky rural settlement, for two months. He has been sent to a pretrial detention centre until March. This was reported from the court by Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov who was present at the trial.
Photo: Konstantin Smirnov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Investigative Committee have detained Konstantin Smirnov, the leader of Ryazan Yabloko, journalist and municipal deputy, on charges of extortion. Yabloko is convinced that this is revenge for his active work as a municipal deputy and political activity, in particular, for the campaign against the authorities’ initiative on abolishing local self-governing in the region.
Photo: Grigory Grishin / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
On 29 January, the central office of the Yabloko Party in Moscow hosted a screening of the documentary film by French director Alain Resnais “Night and Fog” (“Nuit et Brouillard”), dedicated to the topic of the Holocaust. The discussion was moderated by Grigory Grishin, Advisor to the Yabloko Chairman and documentary filmmaker.
Photo: Emilia Slabunova / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Emilia Slabunova will talk about the work of the Yabloko faction in the Karelia Legislative Assembly, protection of citizens’ rights, the problems of Karelia, interaction with government bodies and the specifics of the work of opposition party deputies, share successful cases, and answer questions.
Photo: Vladimir Yefimov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Vladimir Yefimov, journalist and the leader of the Kamchatka branch of Yabloko, was sentenced to two years in a penal colony in the second criminal case against him on “discrediting the army” (Article 280.3 Part 1 of the Criminal Code). According to the verdict of the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky City Court, Yefimov also cannot publish posts on the Internet or administer websites for four years.
Photo: A public memorial at the site of Boris Nemtsov’s death on the Moskvoretsky Bridge in Moscow / Photo by Vitaly Smolnikov, Kommersant
On 27 February, the tenth anniversary of the politician’s murder, the petition will be sent to the Moscow City Duma as the Moscow parliament is authorized to decide on the memorial. The petition was supported by Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov, Chairman of the Federal Political Committee of the party Grigory Yavlinsky and other party leaders.
Boris Nemtsov was killed on the Moskvoretsky Bridge, by the walls of the Kremlin, on 27 February, 2015. A makeshift memorial of flowers, candles, memorial texts and portraits of the politician brought by people spontaneously appeared at the site of the murder and has existed for ten years.
Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov, Chairman of the St. Petersburg branch of Yabloko Olga Tsepilova, head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg Alexander Shishlov, deputy of the Legislative Assembly Olga Shtannikova, member of the Yabloko Bureau Anatoly Golov and other party members came to honour the memory of those who died in besieged Leningrad during World War II.
On 29 January, the central office of the Yabloko party in Moscow will screen the documentary “Night and Fog” (“Nuit et Brouillard”) by Alain Resnais to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day on 27 January.
Adolf Hitler’s directive “Night and Fog” of 7 December, 1941, authorised the kidnapping of anti-Nazi political activists throughout all the territories occupied by Germany and their deportation to concentration camps. Alain Resnais’ short documentary “Night and Fog” was filmed in 1955. The film describes the spread of Nazi ideology and numerous monstrous crimes and medical experiments on prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Photo: “Freedom to All Political Prisoners”. Yabloko Party Congress, 2019 / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Yabloko in Moscow and the Russian regions continues its actions of writing letters to political prisoners. Anyone can take part in the actions of writing letters to political prisoners. Participation in Yabloko actions of writing letters to political prisoners is not only about helping those unjustly deprived of their freedom, but also an opportunity to find like-minded people and communicate in a friendly atmosphere.
The Yabloko branch in the Sverdlovsk region received a response from the Yekaterinburg administration to the Yabloko request signed by the regional party branch chairman Maxim Petlin about the condition of the Memorial to Victims of Political Repression on the 12th kilometer of the Moscow Highway. Head of the Yekaterinburg Housing and Communal Services Department Alexander Bragin responded that the repair of the memorial is scheduled for the next two years.
The Executive Committee of Kazan has given an consent to the activists of the Tatarstan branch of Yabloko to hold a picket on 1 February dedicated to the protection of freedom of speech and the press. Yabloko members suggest using the opportunity to declare the inalienable right to truth and free dissemination of information and invite everyone to the action.
In December, relatives of people serving sentences in penal colony No. 6 near Sebezh contacted Artur Gaiduk, a deputy of the Pskov Regional Assembly from Yabloko. They complained about the unfair payment of their relatives. Artur Gaiduk sent an appeal to the regional Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Photo: Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin / Photo by Yuri Martyanov, Kommersant
Resolution of the Moscow Government No. 3160-PP on the transformation of specially protected natural areas of regional significance into specially protected green areas deprives all 146 protected areas in Moscow of their special nature conservation status. This status, in accordance with federal law, stood in the way of the commercial interests of developers and the construction lobby: any construction was prohibited within the boundaries of the specially protected natural areas. Moscow Yabloko states that such legislative acts in Moscow does not comply with federal law and calls on Public Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov to take prosecutorial response measures.
Statement by the Moscow branch of Yabloko, 21.01.2025
Photo: Moscow residents at a meeting with Moscow City Duma deputies from Yabloko in the Sokolniki park, Moscow, April 2024. Then the deputies managed to stop illegal construction works in the park / Photo from social media
On 27 December, 2024, the Decree of the Moscow government, liquidated all 146 specially protected natural areas of regional significance in Moscow. They were transformed into so-called specially protected green areas, that is, deprived of special nature conservation status.
Grigory Yavlinsky’s interview to the Youtube channel Zhivoy Gvozd, 18.01.2025, published on 21.01.2025
Soon it will be three (!) years since military actions have been going on between Russia and Ukraine. These events were approaching and eventually became inevitable long before February 2022. Politically, it was obvious, but humanly it was impossible to imagine. And it still doesn’t fit in my head – victims, destruction, crippled lives… People in both countries, perhaps, do not understand rationally, but they increasingly feel the loss of the future, and the majority wants the military actions to finally end. This is no longer a question of territories or restoring justice, it is about stopping the killings and preserving the future: people do not want war.
