Viktor Kogan-Yasny: Non-Poster Thoughts
Viktor Kogan-Yasny special for the Yabloko web-site, 10.01.2022
Photo: Viktor Kogan-Yasny / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The current era has two destructive (and somewhat interconnected) social traits that make it very dangerous. First, the behaviour of people in their everyday life can be compared to that of a primitive bureaucrat, an ignorant functional introvert, filled with defensive reactions, to put it simply, a person following his self-interests. Second, the breaking of ties and contacts, their formalisation, and falling out of the “sentimental” tradition. This leads to the triumph of narrow-mindness, the substitution of content in the most essential issues by daily routine.
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Posted: January 10th, 2022 under Foreign policy, Governance, Human Rights.
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Viktor Kogan-Yasny on the events in Kazakhstan
Viktor Kogan-Yasny special for the Yabloko web-site, 10.01.2022
Photo by Anatoly Zhdanov / Kommersant
When the level of general and political culture in society is very low, especially among the numerous restless working youth;
when the entire political agenda consists of a single dominant: which implies unquestioning submission to the government for those who support this government, and the only topic of fight against corruption for those who are in opposition;
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Posted: January 10th, 2022 under Foreign policy, Без рубрики.
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War and Our Role
Blog post by Grigory Yavlinsky, yavlinsky.ru, 8.01.2022
God forbid that war should happen,
Or else we will make a fool of our grandkids…
Vladimir Vysotsky. Ballad on Departure to Heaven
The anti-Ukrainian propaganda in the Russian mass media continues unabated. The world press is overflowing with information and assumptions on an impending war between Russia and Ukraine at the start of 2022. I personally don’t believe that this can happen. However, let me start with the key issue. If there is a war between Russia and Ukraine and Russia tries to occupy Ukraine, this will be suicidal for Russia.
Russian paratroopers line up before boarding a Il-76 transport plane as they take part in the military exercises «Zapad-2021» staged by the armed forces of Russia and Belarus at an aerodrome in Kaliningrad Region, Russia, September 13, 2021. REUTERS/Vitaly Nevar
The policy of “The Path That Wasn’t There” will be taken to its logical conclusion, leaving Russia with no prospects, no opportunities to make any manoeuvres and no leverage or influence. This will not only signal the end of President Putin’s regime, but also potentially the end of Russia as a state and in general our country as it looks today.
The war will resemble fratricide. A lot of blood will be spilled. If we only take the official data of the UN, almost 13,500 people have died during the seven years of military combat in Donbass (to put this in perspective: during nine years of war in Afghanistan, the USSR lost 15,000 soldiers and civilian employees). As a matter of fact, this would be the final chord of the period of Russian history which started with the coup d’état in 1917, Bolshevism’s last stand — and would be fatal for us all.
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Posted: January 10th, 2022 under Foreign policy, Russia-Ukraine relations, Без рубрики.
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Lev Shlosberg: “The responsibility for political emigration always lies on the authorities”
Press Release, 29.12.2021
Photo: Lev Shlosberg (left) and journalist Konstantin Kalichenko / Photo by the Press Service of the Pskov branch of Yabloko
Lev Shlosberg, Chairman of the Pskov branch of Yabloko, spoke to the Ekho Moskvi in Pskov radio station about the reasons that force opposition-minded people to leave Russia, and named those who are to blame in this tragedy.
On 24 December, Lev Shlosberg, Chairman of the Pskov branch of Yabloko, became a guest of the “Countdown” programme of the Ekho Moskvi in Pskov radio station. The discussion was devoted to the political results of the year, including the forced departure from Russia of many political activists. The presenter asked who would build the beautiful Russia of the future if democratic-minded people began to leave the country.
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Posted: December 29th, 2021 under Elections, Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech, Governance, History, Human Rights, Political Parties, Protests in Russia, YABLOKO Against the Parties of Power, Yabloko's Regional Branches, Без рубрики.
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The Russian government recognised its succession to the Stalinist state by liquidating the Memorial human rights society
Statement by the Yabloko Bureau, 28.12.2021
Photo: 28 December, 2021. Grigory Yavlinsky by the Supreme Court / Photo by Ivan Vodopyanov, Kommersant
The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation decided to liquidate International Memorial [human rights society]. The court revealed the real reason for the liquidation, and, certainly this was not a violation of the requirements of the general labeling of messages with the label of a “foreign agent” [as now required by the Russian law for “foreign agents”]. The Public Prosecutor General’s Office is outraged that Memorial allegedly “has been creating a false image of the USSR as a terrorist state”. But it was precisely the Stalinist state that was terrorist, unleashing terror against dozens of millions of its citizens.
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Posted: December 28th, 2021 under Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech, Human Rights, Overcoming Stalin's Legacy.
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“The enormity of this sentence is confirmed by the very fact of innocence”
Boris Vishnevsky and Emilia Slabunova supported Memorial’s Yury Dmitriyev at the trial
Press Release, 27.12.2021
Photo: Boris Vishnevsky and Emilia Slabunova in the corridor of the city court (centre) / Photo by the Press Service of the Yabloko party
Boris Vishnevsky, Deputy Chairman of Yabloko, and Emilia Slabunova, head of the Yabloko faction in the Legislative Assembly of Karelia, supported Yury Dmitriyev, historian and researcher of Stalin’s repressions and head of the Karelian branch of the Memorial human rights society, at the trial on 27 December. Vishnevsky and Slabunova consider such a tough sentence to be a political reprisal by the “heirs of the Stalinist regime” confirming the very fact of innocence of the human rights defender.
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Posted: December 27th, 2021 under Freedom of Speech, Governance, History, Human Rights, Judiciary, Overcoming Stalin's Legacy.
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The Rostov-on-Don branch of Yabloko organised a charity action
Press Release, 23.12.2021
Photo by the Press Service of the Rostov-on-Don branch of Yabloko
An experimental project of the Yabloko supporter Vladimir Beradze “Tochka Dobreniya” (“Point of Kindness) has started in Rostov-on-Don. The project envisages centralised collection of things for charitable foundations of the Rostov region.
The implementation of the project became possible thanks to the Rostov-on-Don branch of Yabloko, which provided premises for holding a weekly action and storing collected items. The activists of the Rostov-on-Don Yabloko are also ready to help with the logistics and sorting of the donated items.
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Posted: December 27th, 2021 under Charity, Yabloko's Regional Branches.
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Four members of the St. Petersburg branch of Yabloko were expelled from the party for causing political damage and violation of the Yabloko by-laws
Press Release, 23.12.2021, St.Petersburg
Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The Bureau of the Yabloko party, upon the recommendation of the Yabloko party commission, expelled four members of the St. Petersburg branch from the party for violating the party’s by-laws and causing political damage to the party:
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Posted: December 27th, 2021 under Political Parties, YABLOKO Against the Parties of Power, YABLOKO and Other Political Parties, YABLOKO and the International Liberal Family, Yabloko's Regional Branches.
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An exhibition of posters Citizen Poster opened in the Yabloko office
Press Release, 22.12.2021
An exhibition Citizen Poster has opened in the Moscow office of the Yabloko party. The exhibition features posters of Russian artists Yuri Leonov, Konstantin Geraimovich, Ivan Ostrovsky, Yevgeny Dobrovinsky, Mark Levin and Maria Novikova, representing the creative group Poster Square.
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Posted: December 23rd, 2021 under Conferences and Seminars, Freedom of Speech, Human Rights.
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Activists of the Rostov-on-Don branch of Yabloko sent letters to political prisoners
Press Release, 22.12.2021
Photo by the Press Service of the Rostov-on-Don branch of Yabloko
Activists of the Rostov-on-Don branch of Yabloko sent letters to political prisoners. Yabloko members and political activists, including Vladislav Mordasov, the recently released political prisoner and a defendant in the so-called Rostov case, participated in the action. The participants signed about forty letters to Russian and eight letters to Belarusian political prisoners.
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Posted: December 23rd, 2021 under Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech, Human Rights, Yabloko's Regional Branches.
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Protect the lives and rights of citizens!
Decision by the Yabloko Bureau, 16.12.2021
The position of the Yabloko party on government bills on QR codes and necessary priority measures to combat the spread of coronavirus infection
Update. The party’s position was sent to the Government of the Russian Federation and the State Duma of the Russian Federation.
Photo by Artyom Krasnov / Kommersant
The Yabloko party declares that a person’s right to a healthy life, without an increased risk of infection and infecting his/her loved ones, must be protected. Deliberate refusal from vaccination, often based on pseudoscientific and conspiracy theories, turns into a “right” to infect other people and expose their lives and the lives of their loved ones to danger, and runs counter to the fundamental value – the human right to life.
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Posted: December 22nd, 2021 under Freedom of Assembly, Healthcare, Human Rights, Social Policies, Без рубрики.
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The Saratov branch of Yabloko held a debate on coercive measures in the fight against the pandemic
Press Release, 21.12.2021
Photo by the Press Service of the Saratov branch of Yabloko
On 19 December, the Saratov regional branch of the Yabloko party held a debate with the participation of civil activists. The topic was the use of coercive measures in the fight against COVID-19. The participants in the debate spoke about the need to coerce vaccinations and the introduction of QR codes, and also discussed their effectiveness and impact on the epidemiological situation. The viewers of the debates asked the participants questions, and also voted for the position they shared.
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Posted: December 21st, 2021 under Healthcare, Social Policies, Yabloko's Regional Branches.
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Ronald Ayrapetyan, a member of the Stavropol branch of Yabloko, asked for political asylum in the Netherlands
Press Release, 16.12.2021
Photo: Ronald Ayrapetyan / Ronald Ayrapetyan’s Telegram channel
Ronald Hayrapetyan, a member of the Yabloko party from Kislovodsk, South Russia, asked for political asylum in the Netherlands.
Ronald Ayrapetyan decided to leave Russia after he was abducted by unidentified persons on 25 November. According to Ayrapetyan, three men grabbed him as he walked out of the store, pushed him into a black minivan and took him to a forest in the Lazarevsky district of Sochi. Taking out a pistol the men threatened the activist with murder and demanded that he remove his Telegram channel with about 300 subscribers. Then they kicked Ayrapetyan in the stomach and sprayed with pepper spray in his eyes, leaving him in the forest.
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Posted: December 20th, 2021 under Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech, Human Rights, Yabloko's Regional Branches, Без рубрики.
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An exhibition of posters Citizen Poster will be held in the Yabloko office
Press Release, 20.12.2021
Photo: A Poster Square. “We will stop growth of prices”.
An exhibition Citizen Poster will be held in the Yabloko party office from 22 December to 22 January.
In the context of a complicated social and political situation in Russia, the exhibition of Moscow artists of the Poster Square creative group touching upon many sensitive topics is in demand and very timely.
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Posted: December 20th, 2021 under Conferences and Seminars, Freedom of Speech, Human Rights.
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After the application of the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko to the Federal Antimonopoly Service an audit will be conducted in connection with the purchase of a car for 7 million roubles for the Mayor’s Office of Magnitogorsk
Press Release, 17.12.2021
Photo from the official web-site of the Governor of the Chelyabinsk region
The Office of the Federal Antimonopoly Service in the Chelyabinsk Region has suspended the auction of the Magnitogrosk Mayor’s Office for the purchase of an expensive car for the needs of officials. Earlier, Yaroslav Shcherbakov, Chairman of the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko, filed a complaint with the Federal Antimonopoly Service about the purchase. The auction is suspended until consideration of the complaint on the merits. By 21 December, the administration of Magnitogorsk must submit to all the documentation for the expensive procurement to the Federal Antimonopoly Service.
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Posted: December 20th, 2021 under YABLOKO against Corruption, Yabloko's Regional Branches.
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We demand to reconsider the verdict of the leaders of the Ingush protest and fully acquit them
Statement by the Yabloko Party Chairman, 17.12.2021
Photo by Yulia Suguyeva / Mediazona
The trial of the leaders of the civil protest in the Republic of Ingushetia, which lasted more than two years, ended in an extremely tough sentence. Civil activists were equated with terrorists and given sentences comparable to the punishment for murderers and rapists.
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Posted: December 20th, 2021 under Freedom of Assembly, Freedom of Speech, Human Rights, Без рубрики.
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The Moscow City Duma unanimously adopted Yabloko’s bill guaranteeing a secondary education for children in pre-trial detention centres
Press Release, 15.12.2021
Photo: Yevgeny Bunimovich / Photo by the Press Service of the Moscow City Duma
The Moscow City Duma adopted a bill submitted by Yevgeny Bunimovich, a member of the Yabloko faction and Chairman of the Education Commission, according to which children under investigation and kept in pre-trial detention centres are guaranteed secondary education.
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Posted: December 15th, 2021 under Human Rights, Social Policies, The Yabloko faction in the Moscow City Duma, Yabloko's Regional Branches.
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Yabloko will collect New Year gifts for homeless people in Moscow and St. Petersburg
Press Release, 15.12.2021
The Yabloko party joins the annual action “Mandarins and canned meat” from the Nochlezhka charity organization helping homeless people. On New Year’s Eve Nochlezhka collects the most essential food-stuffs for the homeless people of Moscow and St. Petersburg.
We call on all members of our party, our supporters and all unindifferent people to bring essential food-stuffs and daily goods from the list published by Nochlezhka (below) to our offices by 23 December, 2021. Our representatives will take all the collected goods to Nochlezhka. Before the New Year, volunteers will pack all collected food-stuffs and utensils into gift sets, and on the eve of the holiday they will distribute them to homeless people at the Night Bus parking lots, heating points, the consultation service and at the Nochlezhka shelter.
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Posted: December 15th, 2021 under Charity, Yabloko's Regional Branches, Без рубрики.
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St.Petersburg parliament refused to consider Yabloko’s initiative to exclude the “foreign agent” concept from the Russian legislation
Press Release, 15.12.2021
Photo: Yabloko deputies Boris Vishnevsky and Alexander Shishlov / Photo by the Press Service of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg
The pro-government parliamentary majority in the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg excluded from the agenda of the plenary session the legislative initiative of the Yabloko faction envisaging abolishing of the “foreign agent” concept in the Russian legislation. The proposal to exclude the issue from the agenda was made by Alexei Zinchuk, a deputy of the Legislative Assembly from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation. Thus, 32 deputies voted for the exception, four against, and five abstained. The Yabloko faction intends to introduce the bill once again at the next meeting of the St. Petersburg parliament.
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Posted: December 15th, 2021 under Freedom of Speech, Human Rights, YABLOKO's faction in St.Petersburg Legislative Assembly, Yabloko's Regional Branches.
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