Press Release, 26.03.2018

The Kemerovo branch of Yabloko issued a statement demanding dismissal of Governor Aman Tuleyev and Ilya Serdyuk, head of the city of Kemerovo in view of the tragedy which took place in a trade centre on 25 March.

According to Yabloko activists, the tragedy represented a consequence of the work of the power and administrative system that had developed in the region.

“We believe that in addition to the owners of the building, the control and inspection services that allowed the building of the shopping and entertainment center Winter Cherry to operate, each bearing its share of responsibility for the deaths of adults and children, the responsibility for this tragedy lies on the authorities of the city of Kemerovo and the Kemerovo region,” the statement runs. “We believe that this tragedy happened because of corruption corroding the Kemerovo region, because of the lack of independent media in the Kemerovo region, because of the monopoly of a single [pro-governmental] party United Russia in the elected power bodies, and because of 20 years in office of one person – Aman Tuleyev, Governor of the Kemerovo region”.

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Web-site of Grigory Yavlinsky, 26.03.2018, 10:28

I am expressing my condolences to the families and friends of people who died in a fire in Kemerovo. Dozens of dead, and many children among them. This is a grief for the whole country, every person, regardless of place of residence.

But condolence is not enough. It is necessary not only to conduct an investigation and punish the guilty, but also to change the rules of life, attitude towards people, their lives, health and safety. This is the main thing that we have. And now I think it a must to declare all-Russian mourning.

Source: https://www.yavlinsky.ru

Press Release, 26.03.2018

Yabloko Party Chair Emilia Slabunova and Yabloko Deputy Chairman Nikolai Rybakov laid flowers to the Representative office of the Kemerovo region in Moscow (Bolshaya Tatarskaya 5, bldg 9) and made an entry in the book of condolences.

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Condolences from Emilia Slabunova and Grigory Yavlinsky, 26.03.2018

On 25 March, in a fire in a shopping center in Kemerovo, more than 50 people, including many children, died in a fire On March 25, in a fire in a shopping center in Kemerovo. Yabloko leaders Emilia Slabunova and Grigory Yavlinsky expressed their condolences to the relatives of the victims of the terrible tragedy:

Emilia Slabunova on Facebook

26 March, 2018

The soul can not help being with the families of the victims of the terrible fire in Kemerovo. So many broken lives! Corruption, irresponsibility, cynicism, connivance of the authorities of all levels, poison and burn people and the future of the country!

RIP! Condolences to families!

 Grigory Yavlinsky on twitter

✔ @yavlinsky

A terrible tragedy in Kemerovo. Dozens of dead, including many children. We mourn with Kemerovo and condole with relatives and friends of the victims. Grieving.

1:42 – 26 March, 2018

Press Release, 24.03.2018

There are many reasons to believe that the results of the elections reflect the effectiveness of the state propaganda, the strength of the barriers by which the government fences off its opponents, the degree of vulnerability of workers before employers, Yabloko party chairman Emilia Slabunova said at the Fifth Congress of the Russian Association of Political Consultants (RAPC) .

When discussing elections, there always emerge a topic of the correlation of the emotional and the rational in the behaviour of voters, in the components of how the political technologies of the campaign were built up, Slabunova noted. “In these elections, the emotional won over the rational, and the irrational won over both the emotional and the rational. I think this is dangerous, because irrationality always entails a great destructive force,” Emilia Slabunova stressed.

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Decision of the Federal Political Committee No 103, 23.03.2018

The Federal Political Committee of the Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko regards the voting that took place on 18 March as a plebiscite held within the framework of an authoritarian system turning into a totalitarian one.

The system formed in Russia does not allow free, competitive, fair and real elections.

Putin’s regime bases its legitimacy not on the free choice of citizens, but on ousting [Russian] citizens from the adoption of key political decisions, primarily on the formation of power.

There has been no freedom of the media and independent sources of financing for political and civil organisations, and independent court in Russia for a long time already; mass-scale [election] fraud has been covered from above and electoral commissions are virtually being integrated into the administrative vertical.

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Press Release, 21.03.2018

At the meeting of Russian presidential candidates with President Putin held on 19 March, Yabloko party leader Grigory Yavlinsky drew Vladimir Putin’s attention to the aggravation of environmental problems in the Chelyabinsk region (in the Urals) in connection with the planned construction of Tominsky mining and refining plant.

On the eve of the voting day, on the last day of the election campaign on 16 March, Grigory Yavlinsky visited Chelyabinsk, where he voiced his stance on the construction a dangerous production facility in the suburbs of Chelyabinsk, a city with more than million of residents. According to Grigory Yavlinsky, this is a serious mistake, and not only it undermines the environmental security of the South Urals, but also reduces the investment attractiveness of Chelyabinsk. Tominsky mining and refining plant is supposed to be located in the green zone of Chelyabinsk (it is planned to cut down thousands of hectares of suburban forests), near the water reservoir – the main source of drinking water for 1.5 million people. Grigory Yavlinsky believes that this is extremely dangerous.

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Yabloko FB page, 21.03.2018

https://www.facebook.com/yabloko.ru/videos/2124978037529119/?t=5

Our colleagues from the Ingush regional branch of Yabloko made this selection of videos demonstrating stuffing of ballots into ballot boxes.

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Yabloko’s presidential candidate thanked his voters and the team

Press Release, 19.03.2018

Russian presidential candidate Grigory Yavlinsky said that the main purpose of the election campaign he and the Yabloko party held was the opportunity to offer Russian citizens a meaningful alternative to the political course of Vladimir Putin. Yavlinsky said this at a briefing in his central headquarters.

“We knew very well what this campaign would be like, because we realise what kind of authoritarian system functions in Russia today. We understand what elections in an authoritarian system are like, we understand perfectly how they are arranged and once again we are convinced that our ideas are true […] There is nothing unexpected for us,” Yavlinsky said.

Grigory Yavlinsky also said that his nomination for the presidential elections by Yabloko was a principled step, and the main motive behind this decision was the understanding that “the policies implemented by Vladimir Putin in Russia represented a great threat for the country’s future”. Yavlinsky once again stressed that the policies of the incumbent president were destructive for the country’s economy and led to the growth of poverty. “At the same time, we were convinced during the campaign that neither Putin nor his government had any programme or any idea how to get out of this deadlock.”

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Statement by Grigory Yavlinsky, 18.03.2018

We perfectly realized that this procedure was not very similar to a real election: disproportionate coverage in the media, spoilers and administrative pressure. But we participated in it, because it was the only opportunity to demand change.

We participated in this campaign to force Putin to change the policies: to eliminate poverty, end wars and isolation of Russia.

We wanted to save the economy, prevent an arms race and a big war. We wanted to ward off disaster. We said everything we wanted and did everything we could.

It does not matter how few percent they will declare to me now and how much to Putin, it is important what will happen to the country now. We are warn once again: the country is heading for a dangerous precipice, bad times are ahead, and there are fewer opportunities to change it.

We regret that in this election, some politicians, instead of warding off disaster with us, helped Putin to bring it closer.

We regret that at the moment when we proposed an alternative and tried to discuss the problems of the country and the solutions, other candidates were arranging scandals, hype and a cheap show.

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Russia needs radical economic reforms, prevention of an arms race and a big war

Press Release, 19.03.2018

Grigory Yavlinsky took part in the meeting of Vladimir Putin with other candidates for the presidency of Russia.

Yavlinsky said at the meeting that “the procedure held on 18 March is, in our view, a plebiscite, rather than election”. “There was no competitive struggle in it,” Yavlinsky stressed.

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Press Release, 18.03.2018

Nikolai Rybakov, head of Grigory Yavlinsky headquarter, said that the data on the turnout at the presidential elections show that the idea of ​​a boycott failed. Rybakov called on all voters who favour a change in the country’s political course, come to polling stations and vote. He said this at a daily briefing in the central headquarters of Grigory Yavlinsky.

“The idea of ​​a boycott has completely failed,” Rybakov said. “Even in Moscow the turnout is much higher than at the previous presidential election in 2012, and I would like to turn to its [boycott] supporters, including those of Alexei Navalny. You have a few more hours to amend the situation! Because voting in these elections for Grigory Yavlinsky will give us all a chance, including to your leader, so that he could go on engaging in politics in our country, and Yavlinsky can, to a large extent, guarantee freedom to such politicians.”

Yabloko Chair Emilia Slabunova  supported the head of the headquarters. “By their inaction supporters of the boycott contribute to Putin’s reassignment. This is a political crime – this is inaction when the country is in a difficult situation,” Slabunova addressed voters.

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Press Release, 18.03.2018

Photo: Yevgeny Vitishko

Yevgeny Vitishko, official representative of presidential candidate Grigory Yavlinsky, head of the Krasnodar Territory branch of Yabloko and ex Sochi Olympic prisoner, detected several dozens of fake observers at the presidential election in the Krasnodar Territory.

Now Yevgeny Vitishko is writing applications to the territorial electoral commissions demanding to recall the members of the commissions with the right of deliberative vote and to terminate their powers, as well as recall unidentified observers and replace them with real observers with their proxies duly signed by the official representative of presidential candidate Grigory Yavlinsky.

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Press Release, 18.03.2018

Yevgeny Vitishko, official representative of presidential candidate Grigory Yavlinsky, head of the Krasnodar Territory branch of Yabloko and ex Sochi Olympic prisoner, said that observers and activists in the Krasnodar Territory had been subjected to administrative pressure from local authorities. He handed files on all violations to Andrei Babushkin, member of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights.

The Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights established regional monitoring groups to monitor voting on 18 March. The group for the Krasnodar Territory and Adygea was headed by Andrei Babushkin, who arrived in the region on a working visit.

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Yabloko twitt, 18.03.2018

https://twitter.com/slabunova/status/975368040467632128

Emilia Slabunova: I vote for Yavlinsky!

Yabloko twitt, 18.03.2018

https://twitter.com/mitrokhin/status/975354282286436352

Sergei Mitrokhin, Chair of the Moscow Yabloko, posts a picture of his ballot with a tick at the name of Yavlinsky so that his vote would not be stolen like in 2009 [when his polling station reported zero per cent for Yabloko depite the votes of @mitrokhin and his family].

Yabloko twitt, 18.03.2018
Grigory Yavlinsky has voted in his polling station at Krylatskoye district, Moscow.

Human rights defenders Svetlana Gannushkina and Valery Borshchyov addressed Yabloko with such an appeal

Statement by Grigory Yavlinsky headquarters, 17.03.2018

We learned from journalists of Novaya Gazeta that Alexei Navalny decided to send observers to the Chechen Republic for the election of the Russian president on 18 March, 2018.

For this purpose, [observers] orders issued by one of the official representatives of Grigory Yavlinsky were used. At the same time, the fact that it is planned [by Navalny] to send the observers to Chechnya was concealed from Yabloko.

We believe that these citizens recommended to observers are not sufficiently aware of the sad specifics of the region, which, unfortunately, demonstrates that cases of threats to the life and health of any independent activists, and especially those who have no relevant knowledge and long working experience [in Chechnya], are very common. Navalny’s headquarters did not conduct any special trainings with them on the specifics of monitoring in the Chechen Republic, and refuses to tell journalists if they have worked out any security system of observers, saying only that it is “their choice” and that they “go there voluntarily, like adults”.

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Video with English subtitles.

Transcript

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Residents of the city protest against closure of the city library

Press Release, 13.03.2018

On 13 March, Yabloko Chair Emilia Slabunova visited the city of Fryazino, the Moscow region, at the invitation of the director of the central city library.  Slabunova met with residents protesting against the eviction of the central city library from the premises the library had been taking since 1936. By court order, the library may find itself literally in the street due to the fact that the city authorities did not pay the owner for renting the building. In addition the city has no other premises similar to that occupied by the library, thus, eviction of the library means its closure, local residents say.

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