Greetings from Nikolai Rybakov, Yabloko Deputy Chair

27.04.2017

Today, Natalia Yevdokimova, member of the Council under the President of the Russian Federation for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights and Executive Secretary of the St. Petersburg Human Rights Council, celebrates an anniversary. Nikolai Rybakov, Yabloko Deputy Chair and member of the St. Petersburg Human Rights Council, sends her greetings on behalf of Yabloko and himself.

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Press Release, 24.04.2018

Yabloko Chair Emilia Slabunova has forwarded an appeal to Anna Popva, chief sanitary doctor of Russia, and head of the Federal Supervision Agency for Customer Protection and Human Welfare (Rospotrebnadzor), Artyom Sidorov, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, and Olga Zubrilova, First Deputy Chairman of the government of Moscow region, asking them to solve the problem with garbage landfills in the region.

Slabunova demands, that the Russian environmental watchdog Rosprirodnadzor (the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resource Usage) checks the operation of the following suburban solid waste landfills: Yadrovo, Shatura, Tsarevo, Khrabrovo, Torbeyevo, Timokhovo, Taldomsky, Saburovo, Pavlovsky, Nepeino, Malaya Dubna, Lesnaya, Kargashino, Yegorievsky, Dolgoprudny, Volovichi, Astapovo, and Aleksinskiy Quary.

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Press Release, 23.04.2018

Svetlana Vasilkova, Yabloko’s deputy of the Pustoshkinsky District Assembly in the Pskov region, was attacked for the third time. This happened on the threathold of the report of the dstrict head before the deputies.

Unidentified persons smashed two bricks through the bedroom window of Svetlana Vasilkova’s private house in the Pustoshka town where she lives. This happened on 21 April 208 at about 23:00.

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 Transparency International found their illegal businesses

Press Release, 25.04.2018

Yabloko Chair Emilia Slabunova on the request of Transparency International – Russia demanded that the State Duma conduct an investigation into illegal businesses of five of Duma deputies. The five deputies are suspected of owning business in Russia and France. Four out of five deputies are from the United Russia faction. According to Transparency International – Russia, the four deputies of the State Duma of the 7th convocation who own businesses in spite of the fact that MPs are prohibited to participate in business activities are Vladimir Bortko, Natalia Kostenko, Abdulmazhid Magramov and Svetlana Maksimova. Investigators suspect that these deputies are engaged in businesses, participate in the management or run the firms. According to information from open registries, another deputy – Andrei Golushko – owns a share in the French company. Such participation in business is prohibited by law.

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Press Release, 17.04.2018

Yabloko Chair Emilia Slabunova appealed to Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin with a demand to stop the construction of a huge observation wheel in the Ostankino district, Moscow. Similar letters were sent to the Public Prosecutor of Moscow, top officials of the Department of Cultural Heritage of Moscow and the Federal Service for Environmental, Technological, and Nuclear Supervision (Rostekhnadzor). Earlier, residents of the district applied to Yabloko with a request to help them to protect their district and residential housing from the construction of an expensive observation wheel 140 meters high in the immediate proximity of residential buildings and on the territory of the cultural heritage object – the Exhibition of Economic Achievements (VDNKh).

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Press Release, 16.04.2018

On April 14, the Council of the Sverdlovsk regional branch of the Yabloko party decided that the list of candidates for deputies to the Yekaterinburg City Duma from the Yabloko party should be formed on the basis of a coalition with all the democratic forces of the city.

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Press Release, 16.04.2018

On April 14, the Nizhny Novgorod regional branch of the Yabloko party together with the Golos movement (a movement of independent election observers), held the First Congress of Independent Observers in Nizhny Novgorod.

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Press Release, 14.04.2018

A mass rally of local residents was held in the Serpukhov area, the Moscow region. Participants of the rally demanded to close the Lesnaya landfill. Yabloko Chair Emilia Slabunova spoke at the rally at the invitation of the organisers of the action.

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We demand that the Federal Supervision Agency for Information Technologies and Communications abandons senseless blocking of instant messengers

Press Release, 13.04.2018

The Bureau of the Yabloko party considers blocking of the Telegram messenger be “contrary to the basic constitutional rights of citizens to freedom of information and secrecy of correspondence” and deamnds that the Federal Supervision Agency for Information Technologies and Communications (Roskomnadzor) abandons “senseless blocking of instant messengers”. Such a statement was adopted at a meeting of the party Bureau held in Moscow on 13 April.

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Decision of the Bureau No 2024

10.04.2018

The Bureau of the Yabloko Party expresses its solidarity with [female] journalists who reported sexual harassment from Leonid Slutsky, State Duma deputy from the LDPR party, and Stanislav Govorukhin, State Duma deputy from the United Russia party and [film] director.

The reaction of Russian politicians, public figures and journalists to these statements shows that sexual harassment is not only permissible for them, but also perceived as a norm. Offensive, degrading behaviour towards women is regarded as compliments and courtship.

The victim is left with no choice: in any case, she will be charged with either provocative behaviour, or self-interest and a desire to gain scandalous fame. The right to refuse intrusive attention is neglected, and the victim turns into the main culprit of what has happened.

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Press Release, 10.04.2018

The Bureau of the Yabloko party adopted a statement demanding that the killings of homeless animals in the cities hosting the World Cup be stopped immediately, and the resources allocated [to this] should be spent on shelters, sterilisation and vaccination.

At present millions of roubles are allocated from the state budget (presumably, the total amount will finally reach one hundred million). The money is allocated via tenders for catching and killing homeless animals – this is how the authorities understand provision of comfortable stay to foreign guests during the World Cup. Some cities are already catching and shooting dogs and cats instead of searching for humane solutions, working together with animal protection organisations and volunteers, the Yabloko statement runs.

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Greetings from Alexei German Jr. and the Yabloko party

10.04.2018

Today Grigory Yavlinsky, Chairman of the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko party, turns 66.  Yabloko Chair Emilia Slabunova and Russian famous film director Alexei German Jr. send their birthday greetings to Grigory Yavlinsky:

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Ekho Moskvi radio station, 09.04.2018

Lev Shlosberg, leader of the Pskov branch of Yabloko, was the guest of the programme “2018” at the Ekho Moskvi radio station. One of the topics discussed was the new US sanctions against Russian oligarchs and officials, as well as a number of companies, including those with state participation. Lev Shlosberg expressed his opinion that in the near future owners and managers of the companies falling under sanctions would try to distance themselves from their corporations, while these companies simply would not be able to exist outside the international market.

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The Bureau of the party has discussed the results of the election campaign

Press Release, 06.04.2018

The Federal Bureau of the Yabloko party has discussed the results of the presidential election campaign in Russia. The reports were made by party Chair Emilia Slabunova, Nikolai Rybakov, head of the United Electoral Headquarters and Deputy Chairman of the party, Ivan Bolshakov, political director of the campaign of Grigory Yavlinsky and others.

The text of the report, as well as the decision of the Bureau providing political assessment of the past campaign, will be published on the party’s website soon.

Grigory Yavlinsky, Yabloko’s candidate for presidency and Chairman of the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko, made one of the key speeches. Yavlinsky gave the same assessments to the presidential elections as, in particular, were provided in his article “The Election Was Won by an Overwhelming Minority”, published in Nezavisimaya Gazeta on 27 March.

“Everybody lost in this campaign: those who voted for Putin, those who did not vote, those who boycotted the election, and those who voted for the left or the right, and those who voted for us. We lost absolutely everything. Why? Because this procedure held in the form of a plebiscite left the whole system in absolute immunity,” Grigory Yavlinsky stressed.

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The initiator of the action is Nikolai Dizhur, Chairman of the Yabloko party faction in the Chekhov district

Press Release, 03.04.2018

On Saturday, 14 April 14, mass-scale protest actions will take place in the municipal entities of the Moscow region where the rights of citizens to environmentally safe and friendly environment are violated will take place at noon. The protests will be held under the slogan #StopLandFills. The initiator of the action is Nikolai Dizhur, Chairman of the Yabloko party faction in the Chekhov district.

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Press Release, 03.04.2018

Photo: Alexei Karnaukhov.

On Friday, 6 April, the first meeting of the commission for security and anti-corruption of the local Council of Deputies will be held in the Khamovniki district (Moscow). The key issues of the meeting are inspecting fire safety in the district after the tragedy in Kemerovo (when a fire in a shopping mall took lives of dozens of people, most of the victims were children), regulation of traffic in the area for the time of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia and the unsettled conflict of interests of the district head.

In August, the Yabloko Anti-Corruption Policy Centre conducted an investigation into the municipal corruption in Khamovniki district. Yabloko lawyers found out that every second municipal contract goes to companies associated with the local branch of the progovernmental United Russia party. The main contractors were companies of the former head of the municipality, young activists of the United Russia party and the head of the local party organisation of United Russia. Alexei Karnaukhov, deputy head of Yabloko’s Anti-Corruption Centre, believes that the head of the district Nina Gushchina has not settled a conflict of interests with these people.

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Press Release, 03.04.2018

The Moscow branch of Yabloko held a rally in defense of the historical environment of the Basmanny District of Moscow. The rally was held under the slogan “Save Basmanny! In defense of the historical environment, cultural heritage and social objects of the area”. The action was held in the park Gorka on 1 April.

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The action will take place in the Orekhovo-Borisovo Yuzhnoye district of Moscow

Press Release, 03.04.2018

On Saturday, 7 April, residents of the Orekhovo-Borisovo Yuzhnoye district will hold a flash mob “Let Us Embrace the School Stadium” which the authorities plan to take away from the school under development. The organiser of the action is the initiative group, which includes Vadim Lebedevich, representative from the Yabloko party.

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Grigory Yavlinsky: “The key cause of the tragedy in Kemerovo is the merger of business and government”

Smart Power Journal, 02.04.2018

The key cause of the tragedy in Kemerovo is the merger of business and government on all levels, which underlies the economic, the political and the socio-political structure of modern Russia.

First, this evident corruption unity of regional / local authorities and business destroys the possibility of effective inspection of fire or some other safety. The whole institute of inspection has a different purpose: either getting corrupt benefits, or maintaining good relations with the government’s “protection racket” of a particular business. The effect of all inspections of objects initiated after the Kemerovo tragedy will be brought to nought by this factor. This factor will turn all the demands to “tighten the controls” into correct in principle, but meaningless statements, into the “letting off the steam”.

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“Our life is such that the desire to speak up the truth is always new and brave”

01.04.2018

The newspaper has turned 25 years, but it is like a new one! Our life is such that the desire to speak up the truth is always new and brave. Looking for workarounds being guided by pragmatics means losing. And to pursue one’s way, despite the fact that it seems to be endless, is the only possible option. I am glad that we coincide here.

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