Press Release, 8.04.2019

On 6 April, the Novosibirsk branch of Yabloko organised an antiwar picket. The action was a response to the arrival of the government’s propaganda train “The Syrian Turning Point”, which goes across Russia demonstrating trophy military equipment from Syria.

According to the organisers of the picket, on the day the train stops in Novosibirsk, the picketers should again remind to the Russian leadership of the inadmissibility of an aggressive foreign policy.

“I see our country falling apart,” Natalya Chubykina, member of the Federal Council of the Yabloko party, says. “We have medicine in decline, our education is falling apart, science has almost died – but at the same time, the military budget has been growing. And we are getting involved in increased number of military conflicts, and this money does not come to us, to Siberia. I want the authorities to finally turn to our country. ”

Kirill Marin, member of the Regional Council of the Novosibirsk branch of Yabloko, went on a picket with a Russian flag.

“I came here to show that not all citizens of Russia want war,” he says. “The flag of Russia was first raised in the late 1980s – early 1990s, it was a symbol of democracy, a symbol of hope for building a free society in Russia. The new connotations that this flag has acquired in the past five years represent a kind of historical dead end, from which we will definitely come out. Russia is not a militarist country, no matter how hard the [the government] has been trying to impose the opposite upon us. ”

Svetomir Yun, member of the Youth Yabloko, noted that he was outraged by militarisation of society.

“Our society has been militarised very strongly in the recent years, aggression and hatred have been growing. I do not know why such an idea might come to someone – to send here an armored train with military trophies from Syria? Does that mean showing one’s “coolness”? What kind of “coolness” of the country may this symbolize, if its GDP is less than 2 per cent of the world GDP? Do we have nothing to present to the world anymore, that we are presenting these war trophies here? ”, Yun said.

It should be noted that the picket was attended by more than 20 people. Sergei Ivashchenko, Chairman of the cultural foundation the Union of Ukrainians of Siberia, came to support the action of the Novosibirsk Yabloko.

According to the plan of the Russian Ministry of Defense, the campaign train “The Syrian Turning Point”, should go across Russia demonstrating trophy military equipment from Syria seized during the military operation in Syria. The train will make stops in 60 cities of the Russian Federation in the period from 23 February 23 to 27 April.

It should be noted that in 2017 Yabloko conducted an anti-war campaign “Time to return home”. During the campaign the party collected 107,000 signatures of Russian citizens against the war and for ending the military operation in Syria. Yabloko noted that the funds spend on the military operation should be allocated to socio-economic development of Russia.