Is
Modernisation in Russia Possible? Interview
with Grigory Yavlinsky and Boris Titov by Yury Pronko,
"The Real Time" programme, Radio Finam, May
12, 2010
The nature and essence of the largest armed conflict in the centre of Europe since the Second World War – the conflict between Russia and Ukraine – is such that it has not had, does not have and will not have a military solution.
Yabloko has always opposed the military method of resolving interstate contradictions, chosen by Russia on 24 February, 2022, in favour of a ceasefire and the start of negotiations. Today this is becoming inevitable.
People wish peace and justice. The road to justice and building a new European security architecture will be difficult and long. However, every day of continued hostilities only lengthens the path, multiplies casualties and destruction, and ultimately deprives both Russia and Ukraine of the future.
The duty of responsible politicians is to protect the future of their countries.
Photo: (from left to right) Maxim Kruglov, Boris Vishnevsky, Anna Cherepanova, Sergei Ivanenko, Nikolai Rybakov, Lev Shlosberg, and Vladimir Dorokhov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The new leadership of Yabloko will include six Deputy Chairpersons of the party. They are: the leader of the Pskov Yabloko, Lev Shlosberg; regional deputies Boris Vishnevsky (St. Petersburg) and Maxim Kruglov (Moscow); Deputy of the City Duma of Veliky Novgorod, Chairman of the Novgorod branch of the party Anna Cherepanova; party representative in the Central Election Commission, head of the Tula branch Vladimir Dorokhov and head of Moscow Yabloko Sergei Ivanenko.
Photo: Nikolai Rybakov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
According to the results of the secret ballot of the congress delegates, 59 delegates (55%) voted in favour of Nikolai Rybakov. Alexander Yefimov came second with 26 votes in favour. Anna Cherepanova and Maxim Kruglov received 12 and 10 votes, respectively.
Grigory Yavlinsky made a political report at the Yabloko Сongress. He spoke about the need for a ceasefire in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, about political prisoners, the economic situation and the upcoming elections. A significant part of the report was devoted to the future of Yabloko in the Russian politics. According to the party leader, the role of the party must radically change: Yabloko is no longer a party trying to correct the policies of the state. The circumstances in the country are such that Yabloko should become the party in power. This is exactly what is needed for the future of Russia.
Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov made a report at the 22nd Yabloko Party Congress. He spoke about the historical forks of the past 30 years and Yabloko’s proposals at each of them.
Rybakov said that it was necessary to understand at what turns the wrong choice had been made, since such forks and such crossroads would happen more than once in the history of our country:
Deputy Chairman of Yabloko Ivan Bolshakov on how the party can exist in the current conditions
Press Release, 9.12.2023
Photo: Ivan Bolshakov /Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
“If you can feel that staying human is worth while, even when it can’t have any result whatever, you’ve beaten them,” Yabloko Deputy Chairman Ivan Bolshakov began his report at the 22nd Party Congress with this quote from George Orwell.
“I think this also refers to Yabloko,” Bolshakov noted. “When the authorities promote a misanthropic ideology and implement the principle “people are trash,” we are talking about saving people, saving lives.”
At 10:00 (Moscow time) a two-day Congress of the Yabloko party will begin, the Congress will elect new executive bodies of the party for the next four years.
The Congress will be opened by political reports from Yabloko leaders – party Сhairman Nikolai Rybakov and head of the Federal Political Committee Grigory Yavlinsky. The reports will be streamed on Yabloko’s Youtube channel.
Decision by the Yabloko Federal Political Committee of 24 November, 2023, published on 7 December, 2023
Photo: Grigory Yavlinsky at the televised debates during the 2018 presidential campaign / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The upcoming eighth presidential elections in Russia in March 2024 are radically different from those held in Russia since 1991. In the situation when fighting and human loss go on, and those who disagree with the actions of the authorities are imprisoned for expressing a position different from the position of the state, the elections turn into a kind of plebiscite with the question of support for Vladimir Putin personally and his policies, with a predetermined result, which was already announced by his Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov.
Decision by the Yabloko Federal Political Committee of 24 November, 2023, published on 7 December, 2023
Photo by Pavel Lisitsyn/RIA Novosti
The Yabloko party again and again persistently calls for a ceasefire in Ukraine and peace negotiations.
We are confident that nothing is more important than preserving human lives and their future. Human life is the highest value, it is more important than territories, political or national ambitions. The continuation of large-scale hostilities leads to new huge human victims, irretrievable and irreversible human loss – unlike territories.
The conflict has entered a position warfare stage, when the situation on the line of contact has remained almost unchanged for many months, with only an increase in the number of casualties and the scale of destruction. It is increasingly clear that the winner in this conflict will not be revealed on the battlefield; decisive military victory in such a clash is impossible for either side.
Decision by the Yabloko Federal Political Committee of 24 November, 2023, published on 6 December, 2023
Photo:Anti-Semitic riots at Makhachkala airport on 29 October, 2023 / Photo from social networks
The value of human life has been decreasing against the backdrop of the special military operation in Russia that has been going on for 18 months, and discontent, fear, suspicion and hatred in different social groups have been growing.
Symptoms of a progressing serious disease of the state and society were clearly manifested in recent anti-Semitic actions in Kabardino-Balkaria and Karachay-Cherkessia, in the attack on the Makhachkala airport by a crowd motivated by national hatred and anti-Semitic slogans.
What happened is not a regional problem. This is a threat of an all-Russian, national level.
Four candidates Alexander Yefimov, Maxim Kruglov, Nikolai Rybakov and Anna Cherepanova will run for the post of the Yabloko Chairperson. The candidates’ programmes are published on the Yabloko web-site:
This weekend, on 9-10 December, the congress of the Yabloko party will be held in Moscow. The congress will elect new party leadership for the next four years – Chairperson, deputy chairpersons, members of the Federal Political Committee, the Federal Bureau, the Control and Audit Commission and the Party Arbitration.
Four candidates will compete for the post of the party Chairperson. The post of party Chairman has been held by Nikolai Rybakov since 2019. In 2015-2019, the party was led by Emilia Slabunova, and by Sergei Mitrokhin in 2008-2015. From 2001, when Yabloko was transformed from an association into a political party, and until 2008, the Chairman of the party was Grigory Yavlinsky. According to the party By-Laws, the same person cannot lead the party for more than two terms.
Decision by the Yabloko Federal Political Committee of 24 November, 2023, published on 5 December, 2023
Photo: Yabloko Congress, 2019 / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
After 24 February, 2022, repressions in Russia against those who disagree with the government’s policies sharply intensified.
According to the project “Support for Political Prisoners. Memorial”, there were 426 political prisoners in Russia (343 in connection with the exercise of the right to freedom of religion, and 83 people unrelated to it) at the beginning of 2022, and 615 people (416 and 188 persons, respectively) as of November 22, 2023. According to OVD-Info and Mediazona, since February 24, 2022, at least 19,840 citizens have been detained for expressing an anti-war position; at least 8,122 people have been brought to administrative responsibility under Article 20.3.3 of the Administrative Code (“Discrediting the use of the RF Armed Forces”), and at least 774 people were subjected to criminal prosecution in connection with their anti-war position.
Decision by the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko of 24 November, 2023, published on 1 December 2023
Russia is going through the stage of collapse of post-Soviet modernisation. The cause of the current crisis was the failure of misguided political and economic reforms. The main feature of the current historical moment is the boundless tragedy of the bloody and destructive in all respects armed conflict with Ukraine.
Today, Yabloko is the only political force in Russia standing for an immediate ceasefire and stop killing of people.
Illustration: “Two Women Running on the Beach” by Pablo Picasso, 1922
The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, at the request of the Ministry of Justice, recognised the LGBT movement as extremist and banned its activities in the country. The decision took effect immediately.
The ideology and practices of persecuting people for love and feelings are within the general framework of repression against the dissent, the right to freedom of association and self-expression.
In Russia there is a medieval law prohibiting gender reassignment, which can now be carried out even in Iran and could be done in the USSR. For some, the lack of an opportunity to declare their orientation can cause severe psychological trauma and lead to a suicide.
Photo: MP Gurulyov, a screenshot of the programme “Sunday Evening with Vladimir Solovyov”
The law enforcement agencies “did not identify any violations of the legislation on countering extremist activities” in a statement by State Duma deputy, Lieutenant General Andrei Gurulyov. Earlier, on the Rossiya TV channel, he said 20% of Russia’s population who disagree with Vladimir Putin’s policies were “rot”, which “should be, if not isolated, then at least somehow destroyed”.
Photo: The Legislative Assembly of Karelia / Photo by the Press Service of the parliament of Karelia
The Yabloko faction of the Legislative Assembly of Karelia has made 20 amendments to the draft budget of Karelia for 2024. This was reported by Emilia Slabunova, head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia.
Vladimir Kara-Murza had a trial today: the Ministry of Justice believes that he, Vladimir Kara-Murza, should provide them with a special report on his activities as a “foreign agent” once a quarter.
Straight from the punitive isolation ward: [he must] download a special form from the website, fill it out on the computer and send it to them via the Internet [all this from the punitive isolation ward which deprives prisoners even of personal belongings, to say nothing of Internet or computers]. If not, then it turns into an administrative case. Further three such administrative cases turn into a criminal case.
Photo: Arthur Gaiduk / Photo by the Press Service of the Pskov branch of Yabloko
Artur Gaiduk, a doctor and deputy of the Pskov Regional Assembly from Yabloko, commented on numerous proposals by Russian officials and clergy to limit women’s right to abortion, and also drew the attention of deputies to an almost two-fold decrease in the number of pediatricians in the Pskov region over the past twenty years:
Photo: Vasily Neustroyev / Photo from social media
On Monday, 4 December, the Basmanny District Court of Moscow will hold a hearing on extending the preventive measure against Vasily Neustroyev, a Yabloko member. Neustroyev should take part in the hearing personally, so should be brought to court from the detention centre – and there will be an opportunity to see him in person.
