Is
Modernisation in Russia Possible? Interview
with Grigory Yavlinsky and Boris Titov by Yury Pronko,
"The Real Time" programme, Radio Finam, May
12, 2010
Photo: Ruslan Zinatullin / Photo from social media
On 6 June, the Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan fined Ruslan Zinatullin, a member of the federal Bureau of Yabloko and Chairman of the regional branch of the party in Tatarstan, 50,000 roubles for “discrediting the army.” The Judge recognised the politician’s status in the WhatsApp messenger where the politician expressed his reluctance to communicate with those who support the special military operation in Ukraine as a violation of Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. The court’s decision will be appealed.
On 5 June, the Arbitration Court of Karelia refused to satisfy businessman Vyacheslav Gorbachev’s claim for the protection of honour, dignity and business reputation against Yekaterina Rayevskaya from the Vepsian village of Sheltozero, who opposed the cutting down of a pine forest on the shore of Lake Onega for the construction of a tourist centre. The interests of the defendant were represented by Olga Tuzhikova, a lawyer and a deputy of Petrozavodsk Council from the Yabloko party.
Photo: The Moscow City Duma / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
At a meeting on 5 June, the Moscow City Duma called the elections to the Moscow parliament. On 8 June, the Moscow Yabloko will conduct a Conference at which party candidates in Moscow districts will be nominated.
Maxim Kruglov, the leader of the Yabloko faction in the Moscow City Duma, spoke about the results of Yabloko’s work in the Moscow city parliament over the past five years and the upcoming elections:
Photo: Boris Vishnevsky / Photo by the Press Service of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg
The Yabloko faction in the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly voted against parliamentary approval of the federal law on raising taxes. The Russian government presents the initiative as “fair”, highlighting only the “progressive scale” of personal income tax from the entire package of all the changes.
Photo: Andrei Morev (third from left) with his friends and colleagues by the Moscow City Court / Photo from Andrei Morev’s personal archive
On 5 June, the Cheryomushkinsky District Court of Moscow considered the complaint of Andrei Morev, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Yabloko and ex-head of the Yakimanka Municipal Council, against the decision of the Cheryomushkinsky Court of Moscow on recognizing MMorev a “foreign agent”. On 14 September, 2023, the district court rejected the politician’s lawsuit challenging the status of a “foreign agent”. The Moscow City Court also turned down Andrei Morev’s lawsuit. This time the court hearing took 12 minutes only.
Photo: Ruslan Zinatullin / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
An administrative protocol on “discrediting the army” was drawn up against Ruslan Zinatullin, a member of the Yabloko Federal Bureau and Chairman of the regional branch of the party in Tatarstan. Zinatullin was detained near the Kazan party office on the evening of 4 June and taken to the police department. On 5 June, a hearing had to take place in the Vakhitovsky District Court of Kazan.
We have leveraged every possible opportunity at every turn to call for a ceasefire since the very start of the special military operation. Our appeals have become more and more insistent from November 2002 onwards, as specific military, political and strategic circumstances, making it possible to implement such a solution, have been added to the self-evident humanitarian factor. The need for the immediate conclusion of a ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine was attributable to the actual situation both on the frontline and in the rear, as well as an understanding of potential development scenarios.
My article “Just Stop!” was published in February 2023, including the demand that all the participants in the confrontation agree to a suspension of the military actions. I said in the article that there would be no material changes on the battle field in the coming year, whereas the continuation of the military actions would lead to the loss of more and more lives, further serious destruction and even greater damage, moreover that foreign assistance to Ukraine would inevitably decline, while the risks of the escalation of the conflict into a major war would spiral. However, as I asserted in the article, neither Russia, nor Ukraine, the USA, the European Union or NATO — none of the direct participants in these tragic events — have displayed any desire to achieve a ceasefire. At the same time, however, it is worth noting here that high-ranking international military experts in the West have been talking about the need for a ceasefire in different formats since autumn 2022, such as General Mark Milley, who was at the time Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff of the United States Army, leading political analysts, researchers and political commentators. However, the current political elite and bureaucrats wielding power have opted not to listen to reason or understand what is actually happening.
Photo: Boris Vishnevsky / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
On 3 June, the Vasileostrovsky District Court began hearings on an absurd case against Boris Vishnevsky, Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party and deputy of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly. Vishnevsky was accused of participating in the activities of an “undesirable organisation”. The Public Prosecutor’s Office considers the deputy’s interview with the Golos independent election observers movement for fair elections to be a manifestation of such “participation”. The Public Prosecutor’s Office decided that the Golos movement was an “undesirable organisation,” although it had not been listed in the relevant register. The hearing was postponed because a representative of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, who applied with the case to court, did not appear in court. Vishnevsky’s interests in court were represented by lawyer Andrei Chertkov.
Adopted at the meeting of the Federal Bureau on 3 June, 2024
Photo: The Finance Ministry of the Russian Federation / Photo by Konstanin Kokoshkin, Kommersant
The true goal of Vladimir Putin’s tax reform is not the alleged provision of social justice, but the collection of additional trillions of roubles from citizens and businesses.
These funds will go into the federal budget and, therefore, will be used to finance military expenses and even greater militarization of the economy and the entire country.
Grigory Yavlinsky, the Russian opposition Yabloko party’s leader, took part in the debates at Cambridge Union about the West’s Approach to Russia. The event took place on May 16, 2024. The other speakers were Dominic Grieve, the former UK Attorney General and Conservative MP, the former chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee of UK Parliament; Elisabeth Braw, the senior fellow at the Atlantic Council, the columnist with Foreign Policy and Politico Europe; Mary Seery Kearney, Fine Gael Senator and the spokesperson on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. The full transcript of the speech is below.
Photo: Boris Vishnevsky / Photo by the St.Petersburg branch of Yabloko
On 31 May, the Vasileostrovsky District Court held the first hearing in the lawsuit filed by Boris Vishnevsky, Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party and deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, against the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Roskomnadzor (the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media). Vishnevsky disputes the status of “foreign agent” unlawfully assigned to him. The hearing was postponed because representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Roskomnadzor did not appear in court.
Photo by the Press Service of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg
Deputies of the Yabloko faction voted against discrimination against “foreign agents” at the level of city laws. The parliamentary majority voted to ban “foreign agents” from being elected and holding public office. On 22 May, the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg was engaged in “bringing the city legislation into conformity with the federal legislation”. The latter had been supplemented by regulations banning “foreign agents” from participating in elections at any level and from being current deputies. The party is preparing an appeal to the Constitutional Court.
Past weekend, the Yabloko branch in the Moscow region held its Conference, and elected a new chairman and governing bodies. Now the regional branch will be headed by Sergei Kryzhov, a candidate of technical sciences, a deputy of the Sergiev Posad District Council of three convocations and the first Commissioner for Human Rights in the Moscow Region. The Bureau of the regional branch includes 11 party members, and 19 people were elected to the Regional Council of the branch.
Yabloko will once again conduct actions of writing letters to political prisoners. The participants in the events learn from letters of political prisoners that such letters and words of support are very much needed by those who has been deprived of freedom and is under pressure from repressive authorities.
On 21 May, the birthday of human rights defender and scientist Andrei Sakharov, the central office of the Yabloko party in Moscow will host a screening of the documentary film “Andrei Sakharov. On the other side of the window” (Russia, 2022). The film by Dmitry Zavilgelsky and Boris Altshuler focuses on the memories of Andrei Sakharov’s associates, declassified documents of the CPSU Central Committee and the KGB of the USSR, and a chronicle filmed by the KGB in the city of Gorky. We will also see animated drawings by Academician Sakharov. It is planned that Boris Altshuler, human rights defender, scientist and author of the film script, will participate in the discussion.
On 28 May, the Yabloko party Gender Faction will hold a round table “Feminitives: a Natural Development of a Language or Extremism?”. The event will begin at 18:00 Moscow time.
Photo: Marina Zheleznyakova / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
A search was conducted in Marina Zheleznyakova’s apartment. Police seized equipment and documents. Marina learned about the criminal case opened against her on 24 April on the day of the search. A lawyer is defending her.
Photo: Vladimir Putin and members of the government during their working trip to China / Photo by Dmitry Azarov, Kommersant
This week the State Duma approved the new Russian government. The previous cabinet of ministers automatically resigned after the inauguration of President Vladimir Putin on 7 May. For the first time, the government has been entirely formed according to new rules fixed in the new version of the Constitution: now the State Duma votes not only for the candidacy of the prime minister, but also for all members of the cabinet, except for the security forces and the defence minister.
The most discussed appointment was the President’s candidacy for the post of Minister of Defence. On 12 May, Vladimir Putin proposed appointing Andrei Belousov as head of the Defence Ministry. Sergei Shoigu, who headed the Defence Ministry since 2012, was appointed Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation on 12 May.
Yabloko leaders comment on the new government and make forecasts for the development of Russia with the new cabinet of ministers.
“What should be done to prevent a large-scale war? The very first steps to be taken to prevent a big war should include: a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine and the signing of a respective agreement; the creation of a demilitarised zone on both sides of the fault line; the resolution of humanitarian issues — an exchange of prisoners; the creation of acceptable living standards for people on the territories in the zone of the military actions.
It should be acknowledged here that diplomatic dialogue will have to start against the backdrop of total distrust. The necessary communications channels must be created immediately, the rhetoric needs to be changed, special representatives for negotiations must be appointed. No amount of military aid can ensure Ukraine’s security in the long term and even in the short term. It is a mistake to proceed from the premise that there is no alternative to “victory on the battlefield”. A ceasefire is the only possible prospect in such confrontation.”
The collapse of the world order that emerged after World War II and the danger of a major war were discussed in the new release of “A Way to the Future”.
Photo: Alexander Yefimov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The Volgograd Regional Court sent for revision the administrative case of Alexander Yefimov, a Yabloko Federal Bureau member, for “participation in the activities of an undesirable organisation”. On 4 April, the court of the city of Volzhsky fined Yefimov 15,000 roubles for his interview with the Youtube channel of the Golos independent observers movement. The politician’s appeal against the court’s decision cited the lack of corpus delicti and procedural errors.
