Is
Modernisation in Russia Possible? Interview
with Grigory Yavlinsky and Boris Titov by Yury Pronko,
"The Real Time" programme, Radio Finam, May
12, 2010
Yelena Smirnova, acting head of the St. Petersburg Rospotrebnazdor (the Russian consumer safety watchdog), sent a response to the request of the Yabloko faction in the St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly to lift the existing ban on holding public events in St. Petersburg.
The St.Petersburg department of Rospotrebnazdor refused to lift the ban, they believe that despite the “relative stabilisation” of the coronavirus morbidity, the epidemiological situation remains at a high level of “significant risks of a massive spread of a new coronavirus infection”.
Boris Vishnevsky on the amendments to the law on local self-government of St. Petersburg and a unified system of public authority
Press Release, 6.04.2022
Photo: Boris Vishnevsky/ Photo by the Press Service of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg
The Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg has adopted a law, according to which local self-government in St. Petersburg should be included into a unified system of public authority. Such an amendment has been made not only in federal laws, but also in the law of St. Petersburg.
This initiative was developed and adopted in December 2021. The inclusion of local self-government into a unified system of public authority means that municipalities will not be independent and will depend on higher state authorities.
Photo: Boris Vishnevsky/ Photo by the Press Service of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg
Boris Vishnevsky, Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party and an MP of the Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg, believes that the publication by Timofei Sergeytsev’s entitled “What Russia should do to Ukraine” violates two articles of the Criminal Code at once: Article 282 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (inciting hatred) and Article 354 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (calling for unleashing an aggressive war).
Photo: Andrei Babushkin / Photo by the Yabloko Party Press Service
On 11 April, the Yabloko Party University will host an online lecture “What to do if you are being persecuted by law enforcement agencies”. The lecturer is Andrey Babushkin, human rights activist, Chairman of the Committee for Civil Rights, member of the Bureau of the Yabloko Party, member of the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights under the President of the Russian Federation. The lecture will begin at 18:00 MSK.
St. Petersburg Ombudsperson for Children’s Rights answers Yabloko’s question about inadmissibility of involving children in actions supporting the “special operation”
Press Release, 6.04.2022
Photo: Anna Mityanina / Photo by the Press Service of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg
Boris Vishnevsky, Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party and an MP of the Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg, asked Anna Mityanina, the regional Commissioner for Children’s Rights, a question during her annual report to the city parliament. Vishnevsky was interested in the actions undertaken by the Ombudsperson in connection with unlawful involvement of children in the actions in support of the “special operation” in Ukraine.
Members of the European Parliament addressed the people of Russia, reassuring Russian citizens that no one either threatens the country, or wishes it harm, and called for the completion of the “special operation” in Ukraine. The appeal was signed by the leaders of the Renew Europe Group (it includes deputies from ALDE, of which Yabloko is a collective member), the European People’s Party, the Socialist and Democrat Group, and the Left — together they represent the vast majority of MEPs. We publish this appeal in its entirety in English and French, replacing with asterisks the synonym for the “special operation”, which was used by MEPs, but is prohibited in Russia. Read more »
The St.Petersburg newspaper Fontanka reported that following the results of the meeting of the Rector and the staff at St Petersburg University, they decided not to expel 20 students who were detained at peaceful anti-war actions. Now the University plans only to administer reprimands to the students.
On 11 March, deputies of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg from Yabloko – Alexander Shishlov and Boris Vishnevsky – appealed to Viktor Melnik, Public Prosecutor of St. Petersburg, and Nikolai Kropachev, Rector of St. Petersburg State University, and called them to prevent unlawful expulsion of the students from St. Petersburg State University.
Photo from the official website of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation
Boris Vishnevsky, Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party and an MP of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, put his signature under an open appeal to Alexander Bastrykin, Chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee, with a call to investigate the crimes in the town of Bucha, the Kyiv reigon. The appeal runs that the tragic events in this city may indicate a violation of Article 356 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation on the use of prohibited means and methods of warfare.
Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov called to international investigation of killings of civilians in Bucha and demanded to bring the perpetrators to justice.
“I am shocked by the horrifying photographs of murdered civilians from the town of Bucha in the Kyiv region. There are no and cannot be any justifications for crimes against humanity. We need an international investigation and bring the perpetrators to justice. The massacre must be stopped,” Rybakov wrote on his Facebook.
Photo: Nikolai Rybakov and / Photo by Nikolai Rybakov
On 1 April, Alexandra Yakovleva, actress and Chairperson of the Kaliningrad branch of Yabloko in 2012 – 2020, passed away. Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov expresses condolences in connection with her death.
We are all mourning for Alexandra Yakovleva. She has been our colleague for many years. She changed her life many times, looking for her place in the world. Alexandra Yakovleva’s coming into politics, the desire to link her fate with Yabloko was a conscious decision. We gladly accepted this bright, talented woman, acknowledging her great potential, capability to adopt non-trivial solutions, and fearlessness in defending her and our common point of view.
Photo: Boris Moiseyev / Photo by the Yabloko Party Press Service
March 31 marks the 80th birthday of Boris Alexandrovich Moiseyev, deputy of the State Duma of the second convocation and permanent Chairman of the Yabloko Party Commission. Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov and head of the Yabloko Federal Political Committee Grigory Yavlinsky congratulate Boris Moiseyev on his anniversary.
Photo: The Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg / Photo by the Yabloko Party Press Service
The Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg refused to include Alexander Shishlov, head of the Yabloko faction, in the Committee on Legislation of the city parliament, and Boris Vishnevsky, deputy head of the faction, in the Committee on Budget and Finance.
Photo: Viktor Shalyakin / Photo from social networks
Viktor Shalyakin, Chairman of the local branch of the Yabloko party in Novgorod, was charged with an administrative offense under Article 13.15, Part 9 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation – “dissemination of knowingly unreliable socially significant information under the guise of reliable messages”. Shalyakin was charged with posting allegedly unreliable information about the “special operation” in Ukraine on social networks on 25 February.
On 24 February, two weeks before the adoption of amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses introducing liability for “discrediting the use of the Russian armed forces”, Vladimir Dorokhov, Chairman of the Tula branch of Yabloko, posted on his VKontakte social media page a picture with two words, the first of which is “no”, and the second is a prohibited synonym for “special operation”. The police say that by doing this Dorokhov “undermined confidence” in the “special operation”.
Boris Vishnevsky, MP of the Legislative Assembly of St.Petersburg from the Yabloko faction, held a debate with Svetlana Agapitova, the Commissioner for Human Rights in St. Petersburg, about the expulsion of students for their participation in anti-war actions. The question was asked during the Ombudsperson’s annual report to the St.Petersburg parliament.
Boris Vishnevsky drew the attention of the city Ombudsperson to gross violations of the rights of citizens during protests against the “special operation” in Ukraine, including the rights of students who were about to be expelled from their universities even before the court decision could come into force. Such were the cases of students of St. Petersburg State University and the First Medical University. Vishnevsky noted that such actions of the heads of universities violated the Law “On Education” allowing disciplinary sanctions only for violations related to the educational process.
Photo: Yaroslav Shcherbakov and Vasily Moskovets / Photo from social networks
On 28 March, the Governor of the Chelyabinsk Region signed an order to lift coronavirus restrictions, in particular, an unconstitutional ban on holding public events. The suddenly issued order at the end of the working day and after the official registration of the claim in the law suit of Yaroslav Shcherbakov, Chairman of the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko, and human rights activist Vasily Moskovets against the Government of the region, which indicates a complete and unconditional victory for the plaintiffs.
Photo: Emilia Slabunova and Lev Shlosberg / Photo by the Yabloko Party Press Service
On 27 March, the social network VKontakte blocked (https://vk.com/id15847921 ) the page of Emilia Slabunova, tMP of the Legislative Assembly of Karelia, a member of the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko party and a former Chairperson of Yabloko. The next day, Roskomnadzor (the supervision agency in the field of mass media and IT) blocked access to the website (http://shlosberg.ru/ ) of Lev Shlosberg, another member of the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko party and the leader of the Pskov branch of Yabloko. In both cases, the Public Prosecutor General’s Office initiated the blocking.
Boris Vishnevsky, MP of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg and Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party, spoke on the air of the Partburo programme about the problems that St. Petersburg residents have most often addressed to him. Vishnevsky said that topics of great concern to the residents of the city were the hard situation with medicines, problems in the housing and communal services and social aid, as well as concerns about inflation and rising prices.
Boris Vishnevsky stressed that he had received more than a hundred letters from citizens asking for peace in Ukraine.
Photo: Grigory Yavlinsky. February 2019 / Photo: by the Yabloko Party Press Service
On 13 March, Grigory Yavlinsky gave an interview to the Czech media Forum24. The leader of the Yabloko party spoke about the situation in Russia against the backdrop of hostilities in Ukraine, explained what Putin’s policy was and what was the responsibility of the Russian elite and the nation as a whole for the developments.
– How would you comment on the current Russian-Ukrainian clash? After all, this is a tragedy for all of Europe. Do you think Vladimir Putin has decided to occupy Ukraine, or does he only want to bring it to its knees and turn it into a disintegrated state?
– The “special military operation,” as Putin calls it, of Russia against Ukraine is a huge tragedy. First of all, a tragedy for Ukraine. This is a terrible crime, innocent people are dying because of it. This is a tragedy for Europe, as it creates a huge and growing tension for it in every sense, and above all in the field of security. But in addition, this is a tragedy for Russia, this is its suicide. If we can say that the modern European state of Ukraine is being born in blood and pain, then at the same time we can say that the old Russia is dying. Certainly, this is a great tragedy for everyone, what else there is to say.
