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 31 March, Vladimir Yefimov, a journalist and the leader of the regional branch of Yabloko, will make his las statement at the trial over him in the Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky City Court. The verdict can be pronounced on the same day.
Vladimir Yefimov is accused of “discrediting the army” (Article 280.3, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) for publications on social media. Earlier, the journalist was under pressure from the security forces for his pacifist position and was fined 30,000 roubles twice in administrative cases on “discrediting the army”.
Photo: Mikhail Afanasyev with his wife Yelena and two younger children / Photo from the personal archive
On 29 March, the Abakan City Court will launch hearings on the criminal case of “fakes about the army” against journalist Mikhail Afanasyev, a member of the Yabloko party and a laureate of the Andrei Sakharov Prize “For Journalism as an Act”. The first court session is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. local time (5:30 a.m. Moscow time).
Past weekend, the Regional Council of the Sverdlovsk Region branch of Yabloko appointed the conference of the regional branch, which will put forward a list of Yabloko candidates for deputies of the Yekaterinburg City Duma. The conference will take place in June. Also the Council listened to the reports of deputies from Yabloko Konstantin Kiselyov (the City Duma of Yekaterinburg) and Vladimir Sevostyanov (the Duma of the Sukhoi Log City District) on the work done.
Photo: Nikolai Rybakov, Yabloko Chairman, Grigory Yavlinsky, Chairman of the Political Committee, and Alexander Shishlov, Coordinator of the Political Committee
On 24 March, a meeting of the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko, a collegial governing body that formulates the party’s position on major political issues between congresses, took place at the central office of Yabloko in Moscow.
The Political Committee states that the article by Grigory Yavlinsky “Just Stop!” (https://eng.yabloko.ru/just-stop/) which was published in the Novaya Rasskaz-Gazeta in early February of this year and caused a wide public outcry both in Russia and abroad, expresses the official political stance of the party.
Grigory Yavlinsky, Chairman of the Federal Political Committee, made a report on the political situation in Russia and the world.
Photo: Elizaveta Metyolkina, a member of precinct electoral commission No. 177, according to the heads of electoral commission No. 177 and Territorial Electoral Commission No. 2, she was born in 1999 / Photo by Petersburg Yabloko
On 28 March, the St. Petersburg City Court will consider the appeal of Dmitry Anisimov, a member of the Bureau of the St. Petersburg branch of Yabloko, against the decision of the Vasileostrovskiy District Court, which in April 2022 did not annul the results of the past elections of deputies of the Legislative Assembly at precinct No. 177, where, according to numerous photo and video evidence and journalistic investigations, six out of 12 members of the electoral commission were fake members of the commission.
Chairman of the Yabloko party Nikolai Rybakov sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin with an appeal to exclude the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) from the register of foreign agents. According to Rybakov, the decision on listing WWF in the register of foreign agents must be canceled, as well as the whole legislation on foreign agents.
Photo: Alexander Shishlov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
A basis for Russia’s cardinal civilizational U-turn and the country’s leaving the mainstream development of human civilization is being created in Russia. Such a statement was made by Alexander Shishlov, head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg and the former Commissioner for Human Rights in St. Petersburg, at the plenary session of the 9th International Conference “Human Rights Activities in Modern Russia: Problems and Their Solutions” which took place on Thursday, 23 March.
Photo: A drawing by imprisoned journalist and blogger Yan Kotelevsky: a prisoner is breaking the chains of censorship, religion, mortgage, ignorance, slavery, and dictatorship.
In the next two weeks, Yabloko will hold its regular actions of writing letters to political prisoners. The actions will take place at the central office of the Yabloko party in Moscow and the regional branches of the party. Yabloko invites everyone who would like to send a few kind words and wishes to those unjustly deprived of their liberty to participate. Yabloko will help the participants to deal with the intricacies of how to write a letter to an imprisoned addressee, and will also take care of sending letters by mail. Please read our short guide on how to write a letter for a political prisoner.
Photo: Anatoly Nogovitsyn / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
On 21 March, the Yakutsk City Court found Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the leader of the Yabloko branch in Yakutia, guilty of “discrediting the army” (Article 280.3, Part 1, of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) and imposed on him a fine of 280,000 roubles, which was reduced to 200,000 roubles due to the prohibition of certain actions imposed on Nogovitsyn since September 2022. In addition, until the court’s decision enters into force, Nogovitsyn is banned from leaving Russia and is required “proper behavior”. The politician intends to appeal the verdict, as he does not consider himself guilty.
Photo: Artist Yelena Osipova at the opening of her exhibition in the office of the St.Petersburg branch of Yabloko / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Roman Plugin, head of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, said that the paintings by the artist Yelena Osipova, seized from the exhibition “PEACEful Art Protest” in the Yabloko office in February, would be returned in early May. This was stated in his response to a question from Boris Vishnevsky, MP of the St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly, at a meeting of the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday, 28 March.
On 22 March, the Yabloko Party University hosted a lecture “Legal Possibilities to Conduct Politics in Russia after 24 February, 2022: the Risks and Opportunities for the Yabloko Party”. The lecturer was Lev Shlosberg, a member of the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko party and head of the Pskov branch of Yabloko. The lecture was held in the central office of Yabloko in Moscow and was also streamed.
On 21 March, the Yabloko Party University hosted a lecture “Attitude towards the special military operation a year after it started”. The lecturer was Denis Volkov, Director of the Levada Centre.
The Kirov regional branch of the Yabloko party begins a preliminary recruitment for those wishing to become a Yabloko member or resume membership in precinct electoral commissions with a casting vote in the Kirov region.
On 21 March, 2023, investigators from the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation came with searches to the employees of the Memorial [human right] society, including its leader Yan Rachinsky.
The Yabloko party considers the searches at the homes of employees of the Memorial society an act of forceful pressure on people who for many years have been involved in preserving the historical memory of the terrible years of the [Joseph Stalin’s] Great Terror and whose competence and integrity cannot be doubted. What happened is an example of a struggle against dissent which is destructive for Russia.
Photo: A house in the centre of Ryazan / Photo by the Internet newspaper Vid Sboku
The Ryazan branch of the Yabloko party appeals to the deputies of the Ryazan City Duma with a call to dismiss Yelena Sorokina, head of the Ryazan administration, from her post, terminating the contract concluded with her.
Photo: Anatoly Nogovitsyn / Photo from the personal archive
On 20 March, a trial on the case of “discrediting the army” by Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the leader of the Yabloko branch in Yakutia, was held in the Yakutsk City Court. The politician made his last appearance before the court. The decision will be announced on 21 March.
Earlier, the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko sent a collective complaint to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Chelyabinsk region against the regional Ministry of Health in connection with the improper provision of non-original consumables for insulin pumps for children with diabetes.
Photo: Logo of the 2018 Russian Presidential Elections
In the presidential elections in 2018, activists Olga Sergeyeva and Gulnara Galyautdinova worked at polling station No 409 in Kazan, Tatarastan, as a member of the electoral commission with an advisory vote and an observer. They were taken to the police station during the counting of votes and were kept there for more than four hours, because the Chairman of the precinct electoral commission sent a statement to the police about their alleged “interference into the work of the commission”.
Photo: Activists of the Yabloko branch in Chuvashia / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The Yabloko branch in Chuvashia opens recruitment of activists to the electoral commissions members with a casting vote. “Any citizen of the Chuvash Republic should not be indifferent to what is happening, both in the country and in the region. Our interest is that the elections are held honestly and openly,” write activists of the Yabloko branch in their appeal to residents of the Chuvash Republic.
On 22 March, the Yabloko Party University will host a lecture “Legal Possibilities to Conduct Politics in Russia after 24 February, 2022: the Risks and Opportunities for the Yabloko Party”. The lecturer is Lev Shlosberg, a member of the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko party and head of the Pskov branch of Yabloko. The lecture will begin at 19:00 (Msk).
