Is
Modernisation in Russia Possible? Interview
with Grigory Yavlinsky and Boris Titov by Yury Pronko,
"The Real Time" programme, Radio Finam, May
12, 2010
Ivan Efimov, Deputy Chairman of Territorial Electoral Commission No. 27 from the ruling United Russia party, called the police to volunteer of the campaign of Dmitry Khorzov, Yabloko candidate for the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, and virtually broke up the campaigning. According to Efimov, the campaign’s roll-up violates the law on rallies. Activists of the St.Petersburg branch of Yabloko believe that Efimov was acting in the interests of the candidate for the Legislative Assembly from United Russia, Alexei Makarov, who is running in the same constituency as Khorzov.
Territorial Electoral Commission No. 18 finally registered Yabloko’s Ksenia Mikhailova in the elections to the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg. The electoral commission had to register Mikhailova after two refusals: 11 members of the commission out of 12 present voted for the registration. Soon Ksenia Mikhailova will receive a certificate of a candidate for deputies of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg in single-mandate constituency No. 3 (Petrogradskiy district) from the Yabloko party.
Photo: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Photo by Alexander Miridonov /Kommersant
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov equated criticism of Joseph Stalin with an attack on the outcome of the Second World War. What for? It attracts communist voters to the [ruling] United Russia party and at the same time makes it clear that a negative assessment of the dictator who was guilty of the death of millions of people may soon become a criminal offense in Russia, as it will be considered a “revision of the results of the Second World War”. Now they will not even have to specially fabricate cases against those who tell the truth about the history of our country, such people will fall under criminal articles anyway and receive real imprisonment sentences.
Photo: Nikolai Gromov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Konstantin Aleksandrov, a candidate for deputies of the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly from the New People party in constituency No. 11 (Vyborgsky District), tried to remove his opponent, Yabloko’s candidate Nikolai Gromov, from the elections. The attempt was unsuccessful. The judge dismissed the claim.
Galina Filchenko, a candidate for the State Duma from the Yabloko party, may be removed from the State Duma elections for “extremism” – this time, on the denunciation of a deputy from the Communist party. Ivan Utrobin, a deputy of the Kemerovo City Council and the candidate for the State Duma from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation in the Prokopyevsky constituency, filed a lawsuit against his competitor, Yabloko’s Galina Filchenko. Utrobin believes that Filchenko cannot participate in the elections, since he supported the structures of Alexei Navalny, which were recognised as “extremist” in the Russian Federation.
Photo: Gulnaz Ravilova/ Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The Public Prosecutor’s office applied to the Sovetsky District Court of Kazan demanding to recognise Yabloko’s Gulnaz Ravilova as involved in the activities of the “extremist organisation” of Alexei Navalny’s Headquarters. Ravilova is running as Yabloko candidate for the State Duma, as well as for the Council of Deputies of the Osinovskoye settlement in the Zelenodolsk region of Tatarstan. Earlier, the leader of the Tatarstan Yabloko Ruslan Zinatullin and a party member Yelena Izotova were recognised by courts as involved in the “extremist organisation” on similar lawsuits and removed from elections.
Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov will send an official letter to Gleb Nikitin, Governor of the Nizhny Novgorod region, demanding to allocate 1 billion roubles from the regional budget and provide support to the region’s healthcare.
The address of the head of the Yabloko party to the Governor runs that expenditure on healthcare in the budget of the Nizhny Novgorod region shrunk by 4.2 billion roubles compared to last year (by 15.6% compared to 2020). However, the expenditure part of the budget is full of expenses that cannot be called timely and effective. Thus, the cost of maintaining the regional authorities increased by 80 million roubles and amounted to 8.5 billion roubles, 383 million roubles were allocated to support the regional media, which are mainly involved in public relations of the regional government. The expenditures on landscaping and beautification associated with the celebration of the 800th anniversary of Nizhny Novgorod (32 billion roubles) sharply increased.
Statement by Nikolai Rybakov and Grigory Yavlinsky, 26. 08.2021
Photo: Lev Shlosberg (right) and Grigory Yavlinsky. / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The Yabloko party declares with full responsibility: there are no lawful and legal grounds for removing Lev Shlosberg from the [Yabloko] party’s federal electoral list [of candidates], even within the framework of the absurd and repressive legislation which he is accused of violating. All accusations against him are untrue and deliberately orchesterated.
Lev Shlosberg is a well-known and respected Russian politician and courageous person. He is removed from the elections solely because he has been never afraid to say what he thinks.
Photo: Konstantin Smirnov / Photo by the Press Service of the Ryazan branch of Yabloko
On August 25, candidates for the State Duma from the Yabloko party held single pickets (such pickets do not require any permissions from the authorities) in front of the Ryazan Region Government office with a poster “Ryazan is being poisoned. The Governor is keeping silent”. The action is aimed at drawing attention to the problem of air pollution in the region due to emissions from industrial enterprises.
Photo: Ksenia Mikhailova / Photo from the personal archive of Ksenia Mikhailova
The St. Petersburg City Court ordered Territorial Electoral Commission No. 18 to accept documents from Yabloko’s Ksenia Mikhailova and once again consider the issue of her registration as a candidate for the election of deputies to the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg in single-mandate constituency No. 3 (Petrogradsky District). Initially, the judge of the city court tried to send the case for consideration to the Petrogradskiy District Court, but the appeal court returned the case back to the city court.
Photo: Mikhail Korelin / Photo from Mikhail Korelin’s personal Facebook page
A competitor from the LDPR parliamentary pro-government party is trying to remove Yabloko candidate Mikhail Korelin from the elections to the Legislative Assembly of the Sverdlovsk region in the Alapaevsky single-mandate constituency.
LDPR’s Alexander Boltenkov appealed to the Sverdlovsk Regional Court with a claim that Korelin had not provided information about his minor daughter when applying for registration in the elections.
Photo: Anatoly Nogovitsyn, Chairman of the Yakutsk branch of Yabloko / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
“We have not received a court decision from the Ministry of Justice on the involvement of our candidate in an extremist organisation. After considering the issue, we made a decision that the district electoral commission currently does not have sufficient grounds to remove the candidate,” Yevgeny Fyodorov, Chairman of the Central Electoral Commission of Yakutia, said.
Nikolai Rybakov, Chairman of the Yabloko party, will visit Nizhny Novgorod on 26 August within the framework of his election tour around the country. During the visit, Rybakov will assess the restoration works of the historic centre of the city, as well as the quality of the urban improvement works timed to coincide with the 800th anniversary of Nizhny Novgorod. In addition, the party leader will hold meetings with the board of trustees of the Switzerland Park and the organisers of the “Tom Sawyer Fest” project for the restoration of the historical buildings of the city by the citizens.
Photo: Valentina Komkova and Yaroslav Shcherbakov / Photo by the Press Service of the Chelyabinsk branch of Yabloko
The Chelyabinsk Regional Court overturned the decision of the Zlatoust Electoral Commission on refusing registration in the elections to Valentina Komkova, a Yabloko candidate in the State Duma elections, who had to run in the Zlatoust single-mandate constituency. The District Electoral Commission will have to reconsider its decision and register Komkova in the elections.
Photo: Academician Alexey Arbatov and Grigory Yavlinsky / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The Central Electoral Commission registered the first ten authorised campaigners of the Yabloko party in the elections to the State Duma. Among them are Yabloko Deputy Chairmen Ivan Bolshakov and Sergei Ivanenko, as well as members of the Federal Political Committee of the party Grigory Yavlinsky, Alexei Arbatov, Yelena Dubrovina and Viktor Sheinis.
The full list of registered Yabloko campaigners is as follows:
The Chairman of the Yabloko party, Nikolai Rybakov, sent an official letter to Veniamin Kondratyev, Governor of the Krasnodar Territory, demanding to allocate funds of the regional budget and provide support to the regional healthcare.
The Yabloko party asks the Public Prosecutor’s Office to check the lawfulness of the “Million Prizes – #ChoosingTogether” lottery, which the Moscow government is conducting to encourage Muscovites to participate in online voting in the elections to the State Duma.
The actions of the Moscow government are unlawful and violate the principles of free and voluntary participation in elections, Ybaloko’s complaint runs.
On 21 August, Nikolai Rybakov visited Taganrog, the Rostov-on-Don Region, within the framework of his election tour and proposed to introduce a single environmental standard for resort cities.
A single environmental standard should include the following:
