Is
Modernisation in Russia Possible? Interview
with Grigory Yavlinsky and Boris Titov by Yury Pronko,
"The Real Time" programme, Radio Finam, May
12, 2010
Decision by the Yabloko Federal Political Committee No 156 of 20 October 2022, published on 1.11.2022
Photo (left to right): French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, US President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Anthony Blair at the Kurhaus complex in Heiligendamm / Photo by Dmitry Astakhov, RIA Novosti
The legacy of late Stalinism, combined with the collapse of the USSR in Belovezhskaya Pushcha [by the Belvezh Accords], illiterate and voluntaristic economic reforms, and Boris Yeltsin’s stake on power politics, made in the early 1990s, led to the formation of a system of peripheral authoritarianism in Russia – a neo-Bolshevik model of the state with an eclectic populist ideology of “political Eurasianism”. In such a system, all institutions and understanding of social justice are subordinated to the “state interest”, personalised in the leader.
Photo: Anatoly Marchenko / Photo from the family archive
Regional branches of the Yabloko party in Novosibirsk and Tatarstan propose to perpetuate the memory of Soviet human rights defender Anatoly Marchenko, the last deceased Soviet political prisoner. Academician Andrei Sakharov was returned from exile due to the efforts of Marchenko and then a state decision was made to release all political prisoners of the Soviet Union. The joint statement was signed by the Chairmen of the two Yabloko branches Natalya Chubykina and Ruslan Zinatullin.
Past week, regional branches of Yabloko over Russia held actions in memory of victims of political repressions and in support of the present political prisoners. Yabloko party members and supporters organised actions of writing letters to political prisoners, laid flowers at memorial complexes, held lectures on the history of political repressions and excursions to memorable places, as well as participated in commemorative rallies and readings of the names of the repressed.
On 9 November, the Yabloko party in Moscow will host a round table “Lessons of the October Coup of 1917 and Modern Times” in its Moscow Office. The event is timed to the 105th anniversary of the Bolshevik coup d’etat.
On 30 October, on the eve of the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Political Repressions, a launch of the new edition of the book “Solovki. The Labyrinth of Transformations” by the famous Russian photographer and historian Yuri Brodsky took place at the office of the Yabloko party in Moscow. The book launch was conducted by Nadezhda Azhgikhina, a journalist and Director of the PEN-Moscow NGO joining together writers, journalists and bloggers.
On 25 October, the Yabloko Party University hosted a lecture “Truth Instead of Law” by Sergei Mitrokhin, a member of the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko, MP of the Moscow City Duma and Candidate of Political Sciences. Has capitalism come to Russia? What is Russia’s “special path”? Is our country a separate civilisation? Sergei Mitrokhin touched upon these and other issues questions in his lecture.
Photo: Maxim Petlin / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Yesterday, the European Court of Human Rights satisfied my complaint against the Russian Federation and declared the Resolution of the Sverdlovsk Regional Court dated 16.11.2010 unlawful and violating Article 8 of the European Convention. In November 2010, the regional court, on the basis of the submission of the Federal Security Service for the Sverdlovsk region, considered it possible to deprive me of a number of constitutional rights, including the inviolability of my home, the secrecy of telephone conversations and correspondence, and also allowed Federal Security Service officers to conduct surveillance on me in order to collect information and subsequently initiate a criminal case.
Photo: Polina Kuskova at the meeting of the Legislative Assembly of the Kirov Region on 27 October, 2022. / Photo: a screenshot of the video broadcast
Polina Kuskova, a Bureau member of the Kirov regional branch of the Yabloko party, spoke at the plenary meeting of the Legislative Assembly of the Kirov Region on 27 October, 2022. In her speech, Kuskova spoke about the formation of the Youth Parliament in the region.
Photo: Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Chairman of the Yabloko branch in Yakutia / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
On 24 October, police conducted an “additional inspection of the scene” at the office of the regional branch of the Yabloko party in Yakutia, as part of a criminal case filed under of Article 280.3 Part 1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the armed forces of the Russian Federation”). The case was filed against Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the leader of the regional branch of Yabloko in Yakutia. During the “inspection”, police officers confiscated a computer system unit, memory drives, as well as Nogovitsyn’s clothes – a white shirt and cardigan which he kept in the office for formal events. The police have already returned the equipment and flash drives, but decided to keep Nagovitsin’s clothes for now.
In October 2022 Yabloko party’s leader Grigory Yavlinsky answered the questions of BBC News about the perspectives of Russia’s special military operation against Ukraine, the West’s role in the current situation and the threat of nuclear weapon use.
— In this month we`ve seen an escalation in Ukraine, we`ve seen the wave of Russian missile attacks, devastating attacks. What does this tell us about president Putin and about his objectives in Ukraine now?— I think it is clear that this escalation is the continuation of what he started on February 24th. I think that he has three goals. One of them is territories, annexation of some territories in Ukraine. The second one is the capitulation of Kiev, I mean the current government, and “de-ukrainization”. And the third one is a kind of destabilization in the West, I mean in Europe, in the UK, maybe in the United States, as a result of the economic problems’ growth along with the changes in gas and oil policies. The aim of this is to enhance the instability in the West and to replace the ruling elites in “unfriendly countries”. Read more »
Savva Karpov, a former Yabloko candidate for Moscow municipal elections in September 2022, is being charged today under Article 20.3 for “distributing extremist symbols” of the Code of Administrative Offences. Yesterday, the police detained him and took him to the Basmanny police station in Moscow.
Photo: The participants of the 6th Alexei Yablokov Readings, members of the Yabloko party /Photo by the St. Petersburg regional branch of the Yabloko party
On 26 October, the 6th Alexei Yablokov Readings dedicated to the memory of Alexei Yablokov, environmental scientist and politician who headed the Green Russia faction of the Yabloko party, were held in St. Petersburg. The event was held for the sixth time by the joint efforts of leading environmental non-governmental organisations, the academic community and the Yabloko party. Yabloko members Olga Tsepilova, Chair of the Green Russia faction, Alexander Kolotov, an environmental activist from Krasnoyarsk, Lina Zernova, an environmental journalist from St. Petersburg, and others participated in the readings.
On 30 October, the Yabloko party will hold an online marathon “People, Do Not Kill Each Other!”, dedicated to the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the State Terror. Members of the Yabloko party from over 50 regions of Russia will take part in the action and read out the names of the victims of Stalinist repressions online. Anyone interested can connect to the online broadcast through the link on YouTube.
Photo Ruslan Zinalullin / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Today, the Sixth Court of Cassation of General Jurisdiction in Samara overturned the decision of the Sovetsky District Court of Kazan, which declared the search at the home of Ruslan Zinatullin, Chairman of the Tatarstan branch of Yabloko, unlawful. The Sovetsky District Court, for the third time, will consider the motion of the investigation to conduct a search seven months ago.
Actions in memory of victims of Stalinist political repressions will be held by the regional branches of the Yabloko party during the week that ends with the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repressions.
Today, the Moscow City Duma amended the law “On the status of a deputy of the Moscow City Duma” by a majority vote of pro-government MPs. According to the amendments, a deputy can be deprived of his/her mandate for violations of anti-corruption legislation by a decision of the majority in the Moscow City Duma. The bill was adopted by the Moscow City Duma within the framework of the draft law “On the General Principles of Organising Public Authority in the Subjects of the Russian Federation”, prepared by Senator Andrei Klishas and State Duma Deputy Pavel Krasheninnikov and destroying local self-government. The Yabloko faction voted against the bill.
Photo: Boris Vishnevsky / Photo by the Press Service of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg
Boris Vishnevsky, a member of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg and Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party, spoke from the parliamentary rostrum when St.Petersburg MPs were considering the draft budget of St. Petersburg for 2023.
Vishnevsky noted that the present draft budget of St.Petersburg could not be called the budget for the fulfillment of social obligations, but the budget for their reduction and “freezing”. “It is a budget that expands the possibilities for the executive branch to spend money uncontrollably, and, first of all, on what is connected with the special military operation and its consequences” Vishnevsky said. He emphasized in his speech, that taxpayers’ money should have been used for solution of the city problems, rather than financing the costs caused by the special military operation launched on 24 February.
Photo: Mikhail Afanasyev / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Yelena Afansyeva, the wife of imprisoned Mikhail Afanasyev, a member of the Yabloko party, editor-in-chief of the “Novy Focus” media in Khakassia, is asking for help. Since the arrest of the breadwinner of the family, she and her five minor children have been in a difficult financial situation.
Photo: Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Chairman of the Yabloko branch in Yakutia / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The conclusion of the judicial psychiatric commission of experts on the state of health of Anatoly Nogovitsyn, the leader of the Yabloko branch in Yakutia, dated 14 October, 2022, has been released. Forensic experts from the Yakutia Psychoneurological Dispensary confirm that the politician is healthy and does not need compulsory treatment, however, the experts distorted his words about the goals of the Yabloko’s work, writing that Yabloko aimed at seizing power in the state.
The central office of the Yabloko party in Moscow announces collection of humanitarian aid for Ukrainian refugees who are under the care of the Grazhdanskoye Sodeistviye (Civic Assistance) Committee. The action will last for two weeks. Our task is to collect and donate warm clothes and other things to those in need before the start of winter. If necessary, the period of collection will be extended.
