Is
Modernisation in Russia Possible? Interview
with Grigory Yavlinsky and Boris Titov by Yury Pronko,
"The Real Time" programme, Radio Finam, May
12, 2010
Why it is necessary to sign up as a member of the a precinct electoral commission when many people do not believe in fair elections, when there are no candidates from the democratic opposition in the elections, when the tragic events make one think about other much more complex moral problems, when the opposition and civil society are demoralised, when there is often no choice in the elections and when voting seem pointless – the Novosibirsk branch of Yabloko answers these questions and announces recruitment of voting members of precinct electoral commissions from Yabloko.
Photo: Viktor Kogan-Yasny / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
As is well known, there were wars in Europe after 1945: the territory of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s, – and very tough confrontations on the verge of a large-scale use of force: the GDR in 1953, Hungary in 1956, and Czechoslovakia in 1968, – and violence against the backdrop of changes in the USSR: Lithuania and Latvia in 1991. But the “common place” in politics was that to move by sheer force was the last resort, that the results of competition and confrontation of the systems should be achieved mainly be means of “bypassing”, through strategic analysis and the use of “soft power”.
Photo: The exhibition / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The Public Prosecutor’s Office of the Central District of St. Petersburg canceled the decision of the investigator of the district department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs which refused to initiate a criminal case on a false report about mining of the office of the Yabloko party. This follows from the response of the deputy head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for the Central District to the appeal of lawyer Andrei Chertkov, who represents the interests of the party.
In the recent weeks, actions in support of political prisoners were held in the regional offices of the Yabloko party. The actions focused on support to women political prisoners were timed to coincide with International Women’s Day. Yabloko members and civil activists prepared about a thousand letters and thematic postcards, which have already been sent to the recipients.
Photo: Yelena Panfilova, founder of Transparency International – Russia, and Anton Pominov, ex-Director of the organisation / Photo by Gennady Gulyaev, Kommersant
The Anti-Corruption Policy Centre of the Yabloko party expresses its unconditional support for colleagues from Transparency International – Russia and protests against the recognition of the international movement Transparency International as an “undesirable organisation” in Russia. This decision by the Public Prosecutor’s Office is devoid of common sense and maintains the chain of insane repression against civil society in Russia, said Alexei Karnaukhov, Director of the Anti-Corruption Policy Centre of the Yabloko party.
The faction of the Yabloko party in the Moscow City Duma, exercising the right of regional parliaments to initiate bills in the State Duma, submitted to the Moscow city parliament a draft resolution for the State Duma “On declaring an amnesty”. The draft envisages termination of criminal cases under the following articles of the Criminal Code of Russia: No 207.3 (“fakes about the army”), No 280.3 (“discrediting the army”), and No 284.2 (“calls for sanctions against Russia”).
On 21 March, the Yabloko Party University will host a lecture “Attitude towards the special military operation a year after it started”. The lecturer is Denis Volkov, Director of the Levada Centre.
Photo: Emilia Slabunova / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
On 6 March, the Supreme Court of Karelia held a hearing on the appeal of Emilia Slabunova, a deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Karelia from Yabloko. Slabunova, together with defence lawyer Alexander Kobrinsky, asked to cancel the decision of the Petrozavodsk City Court, which on 2 February fined her 30,000 roubles under the administrative article on “discrediting the army”. The Judge upheld the decision of the City Court.
On 4 March, the Social-Democratic Faction of the Yabloko party held a round table “Lessons of Perestroika” devoted to the 92nd anniversary of Mikhail Gorbachev. The round table was attended by members of the Yabloko party, experts and members of the Russian Social Democratic Youth Union. The speakers were Co-Chairman of the Yabloko Social Democratic Faction Anatoly Golov, Co-Chairman of the trade union “University Solidarity” Pavel Kudyukin, dissident Alexander Daniel, deputy of the State Duma of the 2nd convocation Yuri Nesterov and others.
On 3 March, the Yabloko Party University hosted a lecture “Global constitutionalism: integration or fragmentation as a way to construct a new world legal order?”. The lecturer is Andrei Medushevsky, Professor of the Research University of the Higher School of Economics and a member of the Public Constitutional Council.
Photo: one of the post cards “Freedom to Political Prisoners!”
This week, actions in support of political prisoners continue in regional offices of Yabloko. Yabloko members and activists sign postcards specially printed for women political prisoners – civil activists, politicians and journalists who are kept behind bars.
Photo: Nikolai Koshman immediately after the attack
Nikolai Koshman, a Chelyabinsk lawyer and a candidate for the State Duma from Yabloko, was attacked in Chelyabinsk in the morning of 6 March. Unidentified people were on the watch for Koshman at the entrance of his apartments block. Nikolai has a broken arm and jaw. Now the lawyer is in the hospital.
Photo: Mikhail Afanasyev / Photo from social media
The materials of the criminal case on the dissemination of “fakes about the army” using official position (Article 207.3, Part 2, paragraph “a” of the Criminal Code of the RF) against Mikhail Afanasyev, a member of Yabloko and the editor of the Novy Focus online media, were sent to the Abakan City Court. The Deputy Public Prosecutor of Khakassia approved the indictment. The case file states that the National Guard Afanasyev wrote about in one of his articles is part of the armed forces of the Russian Federation.
On 2 March, the traditional Yabloko action of writing letters to Russian political prisoners was held at the central office of the Yabloko party, organised by the Moscow branch of the party with the support of the PolitzekInfo project. The action was dedicated to women – political prisoners, who fell into the millstones of the system. Letters to women – political prisoners and other political prisoners were written by more than 100 people. During the evening, 500 postcards were signed for 42 political prisoners.
Photo: Alexander Goncharenko / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
According to local media, a pensioner from Novoaltaysk was found guilty of “discrediting the use of the Russian army” as part of a “special operation”.
A 69-year-old man, put likes under photographs and publications on the topic of “discrediting the use of the armed forces of the Russian Federation” as part of a “special military operation”. By decision of the Novoaltaysky City Court, he was brought to administrative responsibility for the relevant offense under Article 20.3.3, Part 1, of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation. The pensioner was fined 15,000 roubles.
Photo: Iya Boronina connecting with the Moscow City Court / Photo from the personal archive
On 27 February, the Moscow City Court, as a court of appeal, held hearings on the claim of Iya Boronina, Chair of the Yabloko branch in Udmurtia, against the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resource Usage (Rosprirodnadzor) and the Federal Regulatory Operator (the Russian Atomic Agency, Rosatom) to invalidate the positive conclusion of the State Ecological Expertise on the Kambaraka plant – a facility for untilisation of hazardous and especially hazardous waste, – and the Order of Rosprirodnadzor on its approval.
Photo: The Pskov Regional Assembly of Deputies / Photo by sobranie.pskov.ru
Four MPs voted for the bill, thirteen voted against, and six abstained. Earlier, the Governor of the Pskov region, Mikhail Vedernikov, wrote in his opinion on the Yabloko bill on criminal liability for propaganda of nuclear war that “a call to commit legal actions cannot be a crime,” therefore, the initiative could not be supported.
The administration of the President of the Russian Federation believes that there are no legal grounds for issuing a separate decree on the completion of partial mobilisation. This is announced in an official response to the inquiry of Boris Vishnevsky, deputy head of the Yabloko faction of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg. The response came two months later after the inquiry.
On February 25, the Rostov-on-Don branch of the Yabloko party held the second charity event “A Yabloko Pie” (in Russian “yabloko” means an “apple”). This time, ten pies prepared by Yabloko activists under the guidance of the chefs of the partner restaurant of the Shamaika House were donated through the volunteers of the “Rostov Helps” association to refugees from Ukraine. Past time, the participants cooked pies for nursing homes for elderly people in the Rostov-on-Don region.
Photo: Yevgeny Gontmakher / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
On 13 March, the Yabloko Party University will host a lecture “Russian Social Policies after 24 February, 2022” by Yevgeny Gontmakher, Doctor of Economics, professor at the Higher School of Economics, a member of the Public Constitutional Council, and a member of the Yabloko party.
