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: MP Gurulyov, a screenshot of the programme “Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyov”
On 5 February, the Izmailovsky Court of Moscow refused to recognise as illegal the inaction of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which did not find extremism in the calls of State Duma deputy, General Andrei Gurulyov about the “rotten” 20 per cent of population who disagree with Putin and, therefore, must be destroyed. The appeal to the Ministry of Internal Affairs was sent by Boris Vishnevsky, a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg and Deputy Chair of the Yabloko party. The court’s decision will be appealed.
Today, on 6 February, the Tomsk City Duma discussed at a closed meeting depriving Yevgeny Kaverzin, a deputy from Yabloko and a technologist at the Clean City waste recycling company, of his mandate. Such a measure against Kaverzin was proposed by the executive authorities.
On 19 February, the Yabloko Party University will host a lecture “Dynamics of Changes in Public Opinion.” The lecturer is Denis Volkov, sociologist, Director of the Levada Centre. Participants in the lecture, using materials from sociological surveys, will consider how the attitude of Russian society towards the “special operation” has changed over the two years, what determines public sentiment today, how opinions are distributed in different segments of the population, and whether it is worth listening to critics of public opinion polls.
Yevgeny Kaverzin, a deputy from Yabloko in the Tomsk City Duma, may be deprived of his mandate. The formal reason is some inaccuracies in his income declarations for 2020 and 2021, but the real reason for deprivation of his mandate is his protection of the interests of citizens that are infringed by the regional waste management operator. The meeting of the City Duma, at which a decision on depriving Yevgeny Kaverzin of his mandate will be held on 6 February.
Photo: Magistrate of the Court District No. 3 of Oktyabrsky District of Izhevsk, Alyona Dresvyannikova / Photo by Iya Boronina
The Minister of Culture of Udmurtia, Vladimir Solovyov, was fined for violating the procedure for considering the appeal of the Chair of the Yabloko branch in Udmurtia, Iya Boronina. The leader of the regional department asked the minister to provide the information necessary to prepare amendments to the draft law on the budget of the Republic. The magistrate of the Oktyabrsky District of Izhevsk fined the minister of 5,000 roubles on 1 February.
Photo: Yelena Lukovitskaya / Photo from open sources
The Novgorod branch of the Gender Faction of the Yabloko party plans to hold a series of discussions on issues of equality, women’s rights, family policy, domestic violence and other relevant topics. The first seminar will take place on 11 February. It will be conducted by Yelena Lukovitskaya, candidate of psychological sciences. The event starts at 14:30, the duration is 1.5 hours.
Photo: The Chelyabinsk City Forest / Photo by Alexander Sapozhnikov, Wikimedia
The Sovetsky District Court of Chelyabinsk began considering the claim of the regional branch of the Yabloko party against the administration of Chelyabinsk. Yabloko is represented in court by Andrei Talevlin, environmentalist, Deputy Chairman of the Chelyabinsk Yabloko and member of the Bureau of the Yabloko Green Russia Faction. Talevlin is challenging the permits issued by the Mayor’s Office for the construction of a high-rise residential complex on the site of the city forest.
Photo: The inscription on the stele runs “To the victims of repression of 1937-1939 and to the victims of the Finnish occupation during the Great Patriotic War” / Photo by Emilia Slabunova
At the end of December 2023, it was reported that the authorities plan to install a stele in memory not only of those killed in 1937-1939 during Joseph Stalin’s Great Terror, but also to the “victims of the Finnish occupation during the Great Patriotic War” (Ed.: World War 2 on the territory on the USSR has been called the Great Patriotic War in the USSR, Russia and some post-Soviet states) in the Karelian Sandarmokh – the burial place of victims of Soviet repression and a cultural heritage site of regional significance. The discovery of the remains of victims killed by Finns on the territory of Sandarmokh has been questioned in the scientific community. Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Karelia from Yabloko, Emilia Slabunova, appealed to the Public Prosecutor’s Office with a demand to verify the compliance of the design and inscription of the stele with the established status of the object. The Public Prosecutor’s Office found no violations. A stele with an inscription distorting history has already been installed in Sandarmokh. Slabunova appealed to the Investigative Committee.
On 26 January, the Yabloko Party University hosted a lecture by Pavel Kudyukin “Trade Unions in Russia”. The lecturer, Pavel Kudyukin, is Co-Chairman of the University Solidarity Trade Union, member of the Council of the Confederation of Labour of Russia, and Deputy Minister of Labour of Russia in 1991-1993.
Resolution by the 22nd Yabloko Congress adopted on 10.12.2023, published on 26.01.2024
Photo by Yevgeny Odinokov, RIA Novosti
The Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko is worried and draws attention to the campaign unfolding in Russia to justify the Great Terror and its inspirer, Joseph Stalin. Against the background of the ongoing loss of human lives in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the liquidation of democratic institutions and the growing repressiveness of the state, this campaign increasingly threatens the rights and freedoms of Russians. The political and criminal practices from the darkest times in our history are once again returning to the daily life of the country. We are witnessing the return of the basic principles of the Stalinist state: “man is nothing, just dust underfoot”, “repressive authorities do not make mistakes”, which leads to the impossibility of defence against repression.
Resolution by the 22nd Yabloko Congress adopted on 10.12.2023, published on 25.01.2024
After the start of a special military operation and the adoption of laws punishing for “discrediting of the army” and “fake news” (essentially, the laws on military censorship), political repression against the dissent in Russia intensified.
The head of the Yabloko faction in the Veliky Novgorod City Duma Anna Cherepanova, the head of the regional Centre for Anti-Corruption Policies Ksenia Cherepanova, and a member of the Bureau of the Novogorod branch of Yabloko Viktor Shalyakin came to St. Petersburg to meet their colleagues.
Photo: “The Last Address” sign on Dolgorukovskaya 5 (formerly Kalyaevskaya 5) / Photo from social media
Maxim Kruglov, head of the faction in the Moscow City Duma and Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party, signed a letter to the Moscow Mayor on the inclusion of memorial plaques of the “The Last Address” project in the Moscow state programme for the preservation of cultural heritage. Yabloko calls on Sergei Sobyanin to prevent the disappearance of memorial plaques and take measures to restore those already lost.
Photo: a drawing by political prisoner Pavel Krisevich
At the beginning of 2024, action in support of political prisoners will again be held in the Yabloko offices in Moscow and Russian regions. We invite everyone who is not indifferent to the plight of those unjustly deprived of their freedom to join the action. The organisers promise a friendly atmosphere and everything one needs to write letters and postcards.
On 26 January, the Yabloko Party University will host a lecture by Pavel Kudyukin “Trade Unions in Russia”. The lecture will begin at 19:00 (Moscow time). The lecturer, Pavel Kudyukin, is Co-Chairman of the University Solidarity Trade Union, member of the Council of the Confederation of Labour of Russia, and Deputy Minister of Labour of Russia in 1991-1993.
Photo: MP Gurulyov, a screenshot of the programme “Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyov”
The Izmailovsky Court of Moscow accepted for consideration the complaint of the Deputy Chairman of Yabloko, Boris Vishnevsky, about the inaction of the Moscow Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which did not reveal violations of the law in the statements of State Duma deputy Andrei Gurulyov. The first court hearing is scheduled for 26 January.
On the 15th anniversary of the murder of lawyer Stanislav Markelov and journalist Anastasia Baburova by neo-Nazis, activists and leaders of the Yabloko party laid flowers at an impromptu memorial at the place of the murder in Prechistenka street in Moscow.
Photo: Grigory Yavlinsky at the Congress of the Yabloko party, Moscow, December 2023 / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Grigory Yavlinsky is the founder of Russia’s leading and oldest democratic opposition party, Yabloko, which is the only party in Russia calling for a cease-fire. The interview was conducted by The Nation’s longtime contributor Nadia Azhgikhina at Yabloko’s Moscow offices.
— At the end of 2023, the Russian media talked a lot about Yavlinsky’s “peace program” and about your midnight December 19 meeting in the Kremlin with Putin to discuss it. What is the essence of this program?
— Right now, we need to reach a cease-fire agreement. That means talking about the disengagement of heavy weapons and troops, setting demarcation lines, ensuring international observation and control, and so on. Until the killing of people is stopped, it is impossible to talk about any positive prospects. I believe that the most important thing today is to stop the killing of people. Isn’t that clear? Over the past year, there have been no significant changes on the battlefield. The Ukrainian counteroffensive ended in nothing. But recently I read in the Western press that the number of people killed every day has increased significantly. That is, people on both sides are dying every day. For what?
I am amazed that there is not one major, influential politician in the world today who would put people’s lives first, before geopolitical projects. They talk about anything at all but people’s lives; that doesn’t matter. Yes, politicians seem to be sorry, but at the same time they speak directly about the necessity to continue the war until some “victorious end.” The preservation of human life is not the main criterion for them.
That is why people are dying every day. And on top of that, Ukraine is losing its prospects. I am a Russian politician, and Russia started this conflict, so it is not for me to talk about Ukraine’s problems. But personally, Russia and Ukraine are very dear to me, they are like my right and left hands. What is happening is incredibly painful for me. And I will do everything to stop the deaths of both Russians and Ukrainians. Cease-fire first and foremost.
A cease-fire is not a border treaty. There has been no peace treaty between North and South Korea for 70 years. There is no treaty between Russia and Japan, and no one has been bothered by it for years. The peculiarity of Russia’s conflict with Ukraine is that the situation is such that nothing else is possible. Everything else—other negotiations, discussions, truce—will be possible much later and only on the basis of a cease-fire agreement.
Photo: Boris Vishnevsky (centre) / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The Oktyabrsky District Court of St. Petersburg declared illegal the “raider takeover” of the regional branch of VOOPIiK (All-Russian Society for the Preservation of Historical and Cultural Heritage). The court challenging the legality of the “conference”, which “elected” the current management of the society, lasted over a year and declared the decisions of the “conference” of 29 June, 2022 invalid due to their nullity. The illegality of the “conference” was proven. The interests of the applicants, one of whom was Boris Vishnevsky, Deputy Chairman of Yabloko, were represented by Alexander Kobrinsky, a lawyer and a member of the Bureau of the St. Petersburg Yabloko. Also a witness at the trial was Yelena Korshunova, a member of the St. Petersburg Yabloko and a member of VOOPIiK.
Photo: Police at the office of the Novgorod branch of Yabloko confiscate part of the circulation of the newspaper “I Am For Peace!”, August 2023 / Photo by the regional branch of the party
The Novgorod regional branch of the Yabloko was fined 200,000 roubles for publishing the newspaper “I Am For Peace!” during the elections to the Novgorod City Duma in September 2023. The formal reason for two administrative fines of 100,000 roubles each for “illegal campaigning” is the alleged lack of foreign agency markings on campaign materials. The Novgorod Yabloko says that it is political pressure. The fines were approved by the appellate court; the leader of the regional branch, Anna Cherepanova, filed complaints with the cassation court. However, 200,000 roubles have to be paid before mid-February, and the Novgorod Yabloko starts fundraising to cover the fines and pay for a lawyer.
