Is
Modernisation in Russia Possible? Interview
with Grigory Yavlinsky and Boris Titov by Yury Pronko,
"The Real Time" programme, Radio Finam, May
12, 2010
Over the past three days, police have detained at least 19 Yabloko members in Moscow, the Chelyabinsk, the Sverdlovsk, the Saratov and the Samara regions and the Republic of Bashkortostan for their anti-war stance, including Chairpersons of the Bashkirian and Samara regional branches of Yabloko Kristina Abramicheva and Anton Rubin, and Yabloko Press Secretary Igor Yakovlev with his wife.
Photo: Igor Yakovlev, Yabloko Press Secretary, with other detainees in the police wagon. / Photo from social networks
On 27 February, Yabloko activists from Ufa, Samara and Moscow were detained and taken to police stations to give explanations.
Photo: Lenin Square in St.Petersburg, a specially designated site for holding public actions without any permissions from the authorities / Photo from topspb.tv
The administration of the Kalininsky district of St. Petersburg banned a rally for peace with Ukraine referring to the anti-COVID decree of the city government, which prohibits holding public events in St.Petersburg until 31 March.
Earlier, Alexander Shishlov and Boris Vishnevsky, leaders of the St. Petersburg Yabloko and deputies of the Legislative Assembly of St.Peterburg, and Anatoly Golov, a member of the Federal Bureau of the Yabloko party, officially notified the administration of the Kalininsky district that they intended to hold a rally in the “Hyde Park” (a specially designated site for holding public actions without any permissions from the authorities) in Lenin Square on 2 March from 18:00 to 20:00 in order to “express the demands for the cessation of hostilities against Ukraine”.
Photo: President Putin’s meeting with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. / Photo from Kremlin.ru
The Yabloko factions in the parliaments of Moscow, St. Petersburg, the Pskov region and Karelia initiated appeals from their legislative assemblies to President Putin calling him to immediately stop hostilities in the territory of Ukraine and start peace negotiations through international mediation, withdraw military units to places of their permanent deployment, carry out exchange of prisoners on the principle of “all for all”.
Seven years since the murder of tough opponent of the war Boris Nemtsov
Grigory Yavlinsky’s web-site, 27.02.2022
On 27 February, 2015, Boris Nemtsov was killed by the walls of the Kremlin. Russian President Putin is politically responsible for this assassination.
Boris Nemtsov has always been a tough and consistent opponent of the war with Ukraine. Now, every day, every hour, every minute, citizens of Ukraine and Russia are dying because of the war unleashed by the Kremlin. Russian President Putin is responsible for what is happening.
Photo: Alexander Kudelkin (left) and Maxim Petlin (centre) in a police wagon / Photo from social networks
The persecution of members and activists of the Yabloko party continues throughout the country. The reason for the persecution is the tough stance for peace with Ukraine, which the party consistently defends. The pretext for detentions of party members and supporters is the organisation of coordinated anti-war rallies and single pickets.
Activists of the Yabloko party are participating in pickets for peace with Ukraine in those cities where public actions are not prohibited by anti-COVID restrictions [that imply criminal punishment even for single pickets]. Single pickets were held in Ivanovo, Saratov, Krasnodar, Yeysk, Miass, Chelyabinsk, Pskov, Vladivostok, Ufa, and Samara.
In some cities, Yabloko has filed notices with the authorities of mass events such as demonstrations and rallies.
Over 60,000 people have signed Yabloko’s appeal for peace with Ukraine as of 25 February, 13:30. Almost two thirds of them signed within the past 24 hours.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a flagrant violation of international law, it is a crime against humanity. The guilty of this crime will be punished sooner or later. But today every citizen of the country shares the responsibility for what is happening – do not be silent, express your disagreement with the war on your pages on social networks.
Sign Yabloko’s appeal against the war with Ukraine, as 60,000 people have already done. We call on Vladimir Putin to immediately stop the fighting and begin negotiations at international mediation.
Statement by the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko party, 24.02.2022
Photo by Maxim Bogodvid / RIA Novosti
Yabloko expresses its categorical protest against the outbreak of armed hostilities against Ukraine. This war means Russia’s war against the objective course of history, a war against time, and a tragic fall out from the reality of the modern world.
The consequences of this war will be long lasting, but now it is, in the first place, a tragedy, suffering and death of people, and this will be never recovered. The grounds behind this tragedy are lies, cruelty and absolute indifference of the Russian authorities to people.
The Yabloko party considers the war against Ukraine the gravest crime.
We believe that this war is contrary to the national interests of Russia and destroys the future of Russia.
Today, after the shocking news, despite interruptions in the website, 18,000 more people expressed their civil stance and signed the petition “No to war!” [as of 18:00].
Photo: Boris Nemtsov commemorative march in Moscow in 2019. Source: Press Service of the Yabloko Party
On 27 February, the day of the murder of Boris Nemtsov, the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko together with PARNAS will hold a commemorative rally against the war with Ukraine in Gagarin Park in Chelyabinsk. The action will be conducted from 14:00 to 18:00.
The rally will be held in the so-called “Hyde Park”, a site approved by the city authorities and intended for holding public events without any permissions or approvals by the authorities .
Photo: Anti-war action “The Peace March” in Moscow, 2014. Photo by Anatoly Zhdanov/Kommersant
Over 20,000 Russian citizens signed Yabloko’s petition for peace with Ukraine on the website of the Yabloko party as of the evening of 22 February.
The collection of signatures began on 13 February. The first 10,000 signatures were collected by 19 February. After the situation in Donbass began aggravating, and especially after yesterday’s meeting of the Russian Security Council, the pace of collection has increased dramatically, and in three days the number of signatures has doubled.
Photo: Signing of the agreement between the “Donetsk People’s Republic”, the “Luhansk People’s Republic” and Russia in the Kremlin on 21 February, 2022. / Photo from kremlin.ru
President Vladimir Putin announced Russia’s recognition of the “independence” of the self-proclaimed “republics” – the “Donetsk People’s Republic” and the “Luhansk People’s Republic”, signed agreements on “mutual assistance” with them, and sent Russian troops to their territories.
Russian regions have begun introduction of a state of emergency regime in anticipation of an inflow of refugees from Donbass. Up to a million people are expected to be evacuated from the “Donetsk People’s Republic” and the “Luhansk People’s Republic”. Svetlana Gannushkina, Chairperson of the Civic Assistance Committee and a member of the Political Committee of the Yabloko party, notes that Russia does not have a positive experience in accepting refugees, especially in such large numbers.
In actual fact, the war started eight years and has never stopped, leaving over 13,000 dead, and countless refugees. Hundreds of thousands of Donbass residents are actually hostages in Moscow’s geopolitical games. Meanwhile the entire campaign of intimidation and scaremongering about war and appeals for recognition of the independence of the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Luhansk People’s Republic attest to the actual indifference of the Russian regime to the lives and fate of Donbass residents. The goal is not to protect the people, but instead to bring Ukraine to heel, subjugating it to Russian-controlled Donbass in all key areas. There are good reasons for assuming that this won’t happen.
In autumn 2017 we published a plan “Settlement in Donbass: Ten Points”. This plan could have provided the framework for a discussion on how to restore peace to the east of Ukraine. Today, this plan (with minor adjustments and additions) is still a solution that would guarantee the real and long-term security of the region’s residents and stop the war. This plan was one of the key policy documents of my campaign in Russia’s presidential elections in 2018. The Kremlin is acquainted with this plan. Instead of unleashing war, this plan must be implemented. Admittedly, taking such a step would require political will.
Photo: the Rostov-on-Don region, February 2022. Photo by Igor Ivanko / Kommersant
As of Monday noon MSK, 15,025 people left their signatures under the anti-war petition launched by Yabloko on its website. The number of signatures rose by more than 30 per cent after the aggravation of the situation in the so-called “People’s Republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk on the evening of 18 February.
On the eve of the 518th meeting of the upper chamber of the Russian parliament – the Federation Council, – which will be held on February 22, Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov sent appeals to all members of the Federation Council with a proposal to cancel the Resolutions allowing the use of Russian armed forces abroad. According to Rybakov, this will be a practical step aimed at the reduction of tensions around Ukraine.
Attention: the number of regions in the title changes as we open new points of collection of signatures.
Photo: A sign at the collection point in Moscow / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Regional branches of the Yabloko party launched a collection of signatures against the war with Ukraine in their offices. At present Yabloko collects signatures against the war with Ukraine in 36 regional collection points in 35 Russian regions.
Citizens can express their strong protest against the war, that would be disastrous for the two nations, in the following cities: Arkhangelsk, Barnaul, Blagoveshchensk, Novgorod, Vladivostok, Voronezh, Ivanovo, Izhevsk, Kemerovo, Kirov, Kurgan, Lipetsk, Makhachkala, Moscow, Murmansk, Novosibirsk, Oryol, Orenburg, Perm, Pskov, Rostov-on-Don, Ryazan, St. Petersburg, Saratov, Smolensk, Stavropol, Taganrog, Tambov, Tomsk, Tula, Tyumen, Ulyanivsk, Chelyabinsk, Chita, Shakhty, and Yakutsk.
