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 24 November, a rally against the cancellation of the mayoral elections will be held in Yakutsk. Participants will gather at 14:30, the rally will begin at 15:00. The organiser of the event is the Yabloko branch in Yakutia. Yabloko has received a permission for the rally from the city administration.
The events after 24 February, 2022, became a turning point in the lives of each of us. For over two years, we have been living in a reality when people die every day.
Photo: Emilia Slabunova / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
On 14 November, the Legislative Assembly of Karelia considered the draft budget of the Republic of Karelia for 2025 in the first reading. The Yabloko faction voted against adopting the document. The head of the faction Emilia Slabunova notes that only the concept of the budget was considered in the first reading. Slabunova innumerates the main reasons why Yabloko cannot agree with such a budget.
State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin announced the preparation of a bill that would prohibit migrant children who do not know Russian from being admitted to schools. There is no doubt that this bill will be adopted: Vladimir Putin drew attention to the problem of migrant children’s poor knowledge of Russian, and the heads of Rosobrnadzor (the Federal Service for Supervision in Education and Science) and the Human Rights Council proposed a “solution” – to ban their admission to schools. The Yabloko Party Analytical Centre decided to comment on this initiative because it is more harmful that foolish, and its implementation will lead to the opposite results.
Photo: Nikolai Kuzmin at the building of the Pskov City Court challenging his “foreign agent” status / Photo from social media
On 14 November, the Assembly of Zavelichenskaya Volost of the Pskov District considered the early termination of the powers of deputy from Yabloko Nikolai Kuzmin due to the fact that he was included in the register of “foreign agents”. Ten deputies voted for stripping Kuzmin of his mandate, one abstained, and one (Nikolai Kuzmin himself) voted against; 12 out of 14 current deputies took part in the session.
18+ НАСТОЯЩИЙ МАТЕРИАЛ (ИНФОРМАЦИЯ) ПРОИЗВЕДЕН И РАСПРОСТРАНЕН ИНОСТРАННЫМ АГЕНТОМ ЛЬВОМ МАРКОВИЧЕМ ШЛОСБЕРГОМ ЛИБО КАСАЕТСЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ИНОСТРАННОГО АГЕНТА ЛЬВА МАРКОВИЧА ШЛОСБЕРГА
18+ THE PRESENT MATERIAL (INFORMATION) IS PRODUCED AND DISTRIBUTED BY FOREIGN AGENT LEV MARKOVITCH SHLOSBERG OR CONCERNES THE ACTIVITIES OF FOREIGN AGENT LEV MARKOVITCH SHLOSBERG
On the morning of 4 September, Ksenia Sobchak called me, saying she’d received a message from Alexander Nikolayevich Sokurov saying “every word hits the mark,” along with a link to Oleg Kashin’s interview with me on his YouTube channel. Ksenia had watched the video and told me that my stance represented the views of many people in Russia who are currently forced into silence. She proposed meeting in Pskov to discuss this perspective, the work of Pskov’s Yabloko team, the current state of Russian politics, the “party of foreign blood,” the country, and its future.
Photo: the Zolotaya Gora memorial cemetery in the village of Shershni / Source: Chelyabinsk Yabloko
To commemorate the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions, the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko organised a lecture on “The Last Route” of Stalin’s political prisoners. On 3 November, the listeners of the lecture, together with local historian Yuri Latyshev, walked along the “last route” of those sentenced to death during the Great Terror of 1937-1938 in Chelyabinsk.
The route began at 45 Rossiyskaya Street. Three people sentenced to death for counterrevolutionary activities in 1937-38 lived in the house at this address:
Photo: Olga Tsepilova, Ivan Levchenko and Dmitry Anisimov on Ligovsky Prospekt, 12 November, 2024. / Photo by the Press Service of the St. Petersburg branch of Yabloko
On November 12, on the eve of the anniversary of the murder of St. Petersburg anti-fascist Timur Kacharava, the Chair of St. Petersburg Yabloko Olga Tsepilova, Deputy Chair of St.Petersburg Yabloko Dmitry Anisimov, and member of the Regional Council Ivan Levchenko brought flowers and a photograph of the activist to the site of his murder near the Bukvoed bookstore on Ligovsky Prospekt.
Photo: Ivan Shchekin after the attack on him in the Romashkinsky forest / Photo by Sergei Utrishsky
The Regional Bureau of Moscow Yabloko sent an appeal to the chief of the Moscow region police Viktor Ishchenko. The appeal was signed by Maxim Kruglov, Deputy Chair of the Moscow Yabloko.
On 5 November, ” Ivan Shchekin, environmental activist and inspector of the non-profit partnership “National Committee for Environmental Safety”, saw workers cutting down trees in the Romashkinsky forest in the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region. The activist asked the workers to show documents allowing for the cutting of trees. The workers attacked Shchekin and beat him using shovels.
Photo: The Memory memorial in Chelyabinsk / Photo from open sources
Yaroslav Shcherbakov, Chairman of the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko, achieved this by sending multiple appeals to the regional public prosecutor’s office. The city authorities will have to remove two decommissioned anti-aircraft missile systems S-75 they installed by the monument of mothers grieving over their sons who died in the World War II. In addition, the city administration promised to repair the memorial cemetery by May 2025.
On 11 November, Yabloko’s deputy Olga Shtannikova presented Yabloko’s amendments to the 2025 budget at the meeting of the Budget and Finance Committee of the Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg.
Based on the discussion in the Yabloko Bureau on 31 October, 2024
On 31 October, Yabloko held an open meeting of the Federal Bureau of the party, timed to coincide with the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repression. The topic of the large discussion was overcoming Stalinism. The following experts joined the discussion of the problem of studying the crimes of the Soviet state against citizens, as well as developing ways to overcome the growing popularity of Stalinist ideas in our time: lawyers Mikhail Biryukov and Marina Agaltsova, sociologist and Director of the Levada Centre Denis Volkov, co-founder of the Memorial group Viktor Kogan-Yasny, and human rights activist, son of a repressed person Alexei Nesterenko. Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov, Deputy Chairman of Yabloko Boris Vishnevsky and head of the Yabloko Analytical Centre Ivan Bolshakov also made speeches.
Donald Trump has become the 47th President of the United States. Well, such a president, it is ok… Before the 2016 elections, he pays to a porn star for keeping silence about their affair. And where does he pay it from? From the presidential election fund. Simply brilliant… And when he is then tried for it, it is, of course, “fighting against him”. A good example to follow…
And what is there so unexpected? Populism is becoming increasingly more attractive, and institutionalised (i.e., boring) politics, the politics of values and professional approach are out of favour today. Crude, flamboyant phrases continue to gain momentum in the world. If one said or wrote something stupid, but did it in a gaudy manner – one would get a lot of likes. They will discuss him. If one didn’t say it – well, sorry, it’s your own fault. And the fact that politicians, especially those re-elected, should report on the fulfillment of their previous promises – this sounds almost like nonsense, even probably funny to some.
Photo: Sergei Komandirov / Photo from social media
The Smolensk branch of Yabloko has contacted the central office of the Federal Penitentiary Service with a request to provide qualified medical care to political prisoner Sergei Komandirov, who is held in Penal Colony No 4 in the city of Torzhok. The mother of the political prisoner says that Komandirov has health problems.
What is happening around the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions
Lev Shlosberg’s blog post, 4.11.2024
18+ НАСТОЯЩИЙ МАТЕРИАЛ (ИНФОРМАЦИЯ) ПРОИЗВЕДЕН И РАСПРОСТРАНЕН ИНОСТРАННЫМ АГЕНТОМ ЛЬВОМ МАРКОВИЧЕМ ШЛОСБЕРГОМ ЛИБО КАСАЕТСЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ИНОСТРАННОГО АГЕНТА ЛЬВА МАРКОВИЧА ШЛОСБЕРГА
18+ THE PRESENT MATERIAL (INFORMATION) IS PRODUCED AND DISTRIBUTED BY FOREIGN AGENT LEV MARKOVITCH SHLOSBERG OR CONCERNES THE ACTIVITIES OF FOREIGN AGENT LEV MARKOVITCH SHLOSBERG
The Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions is being transformed in Russia into a quasi-legal memorial day that has been officially established, officially not banned, but how the authorities mark it either has not been agreed upon under demonstratively wild pretexts or else is being stifled in the swamplike silence of dissemblance.
Photo: Olga Shtannikova / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The decision to fill the vacant mandate of a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg of the seventh convocation in connection with the early termination of the powers of deputy Boris Vishnevsky was made at a meeting of the Federal Bureau of the Yabloko party on 31 October. The documents on the candidacy of Olga Shtannikova will be sent to the Electoral Commission of St. Petersburg soon.
The 8th All-Russian Conference “Yablokov Readings” in memory of Acad. Alexei Yablokov, scientist, politician and founder of the Yabloko Green Russia faction, was held in St. Petersburg. Reports were delivered by scientists, journalists, leaders and activists of environmental non-governmental organisations, and leaders and activists of the Yabloko party.
On 30 October, Boris Vishnevsky spoke before his colleagues in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg for the last time, as his deputy mandate had to be withdrawn due to his “foreign agent” status. He recalled that he became a deputy of the city parliament 13 years ago and was forced to resign as a result of an extrajudicial procedure organised by those who cannot fight opponents by political methods.
18+ НАСТОЯЩИЙ МАТЕРИАЛ (ИНФОРМАЦИЯ) ПРОИЗВЕДЕН И РАСПРОСТРАНЕН ИНОСТРАННЫМ АГЕНТОМ ЛЬВОМ МАРКОВИЧЕМ ШЛОСБЕРГОМ ЛИБО КАСАЕТСЯ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ ИНОСТРАННОГО АГЕНТА ЛЬВА МАРКОВИЧА ШЛОСБЕРГА
18+ THE PRESENT MATERIAL (INFORMATION) IS PRODUCED AND DISTRIBUTED BY FOREIGN AGENT LEV MARKOVITCH SHLOSBERG OR CONCERNES THE ACTIVITIES OF FOREIGN AGENT LEV MARKOVITCH SHLOSBERG
In 2007, a foundation stone was laid in Pskov in front of the Mironositsky cemetery, on the site of the future memorial in remembrance of political repression. Since then, each year on 30 October, a modest city-wide meeting has been held there. It has ever since then held its place for official events. It was first visited and opened by the mayor of the city. Events have included speeches by relatives of the victims, funeral liturgies, reading out the names of the deceased, a minute of silence, and the laying of flowers and wreaths. During 2020 and 2021, there was an interruption due to Covid-19 restrictions, after which time the meetings were resumed. Hence, the meetings took place once again in 2022 and 2023. This year, for the first time, the memorial event at the foundation stone was “not included as an official city event” as it turned out, by the city’s cultural institution, the House of Officers, traditionally responsible for the task of organising the event. The city authorities have slowly moved away from commemorating the victims of the 20th Century. Despite this, the Memorial Day for Pskov’s victims of political repression was still held.
Photo: Nikolai Rybakov at the Butovo shooting ground range, Moscow, 30 October, 2024 / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
This week, Russia pays tribute to the victims of political repression. According to the Memorial Society, 4.5-4.8 million people were convicted for political reasons, of which 1.1 million were shot during the Stalinist terror in 1930s-1940s. Stalinism is not a distant history for our country. This is, in many ways, the essence of the current system of power. According to human rights organisations, there are currently 774 political prisoners in Russia.
The task of the Russian state is to assess the violent seizure of power by the Bolsheviks in 1917 and the crimes of the Stalinist regime. It is the duty of society to keep the memory of the broken lives of millions of repressed people and their families.
