Press Release, 27.02.2022

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.

On 26 February, the organisers of the picket against the war in Yekaterinburg, which had been approved by the authorities, were detained – Maxim Petlin, Chairman of the Sverdlovsk branch of Yabloko and a member of the Federal Bureau of the party, and Alexander Kudelkin, the organiser of the picket and a candidate for the Yekaterinburg City Duma. However, all the detainees in the police wagon put their signatures under Yabloko’s petition against the war with Ukraine. A few hours later, Petlin and Kudelkin were released.

On 26 February, Timofei Bezugly, Chairman of the Chelyabinsk city branch of the Yabloko party, was detained at the railway station in Chelyabinsk. First, he was taken to the city Public Prosecutor’s Office where he was handed an official warning, and then he was offered to go to the city police department for a similar procedure. The reason for detention were his attempts to get an approval for an alternative venue for the “FIGHT FOR PEACE” rally in Chelyabinsk and his earlier notifications submitted to the Department of Internal Policy and the city administration.

Later it became known that Yaroslav Shcherbakov, Chairman of the Chelyabinsk regional branch of the party, was called to the criminal investigation department.

The action in the Chelyabinsk hyde park (a site where it is permitted to hold public rallies without prior notification of the authorities) took place, 300 people put their signatures under the Yabloko petition against the war with Ukraine. According to Shcherbakov, the rally had to be completed earlier than planned due to provocations.

On 27 February, Svetlana Sheinova, Chairperson of the local branch of Yabloko, was also detained in Magnitogorsk, the Chelyabinsk region. She was the organiser of a rally in memory of Boris Nemtsov and against the war with Ukraine. Sheinova was detained before the start of the rally, and at the time of the publication of this news, she was not released from the police station, where she had already spent more than four hours, and the action planned in Magnitogorsk did not take place.

In addition, there were detentions of Yabloko members in the regions who went out on single pickets. On 25 February, party member Kirill Rumyantsev was detained during his single picket (such pickets do not require any permissions from the authorities) in Saratov. There were no legal grounds for detaining the activist, so the formal reason for the detention was that the picketer did not have a first-aid kit and a fire extinguisher. At the police department, Rumyantsev was issued a warning “about the inadmissibility of continuing antisocial behaviour”. Police officers failed to explain what antisocial behaviour there was during a single picket.

The following Yabloko members received administrative arrests for participation in anti-war actions: Kirill Goncharov (Moscow, ten days), Nikolai Kavkazsky (Moscow, six days), Yuri Bagrov (St. Petersburg, ten days) and Javid Agayev (Chelyabinsk, fifteen days).

In Moscow, the police continue to visit the homes of Yabloko activists and employees. Issuing them warnings about the inadmissibility of participation in street actions.