Statement by the Federal Political Committee of Yabloko, 4.12.2019

The campaign of political reprisals has been intensifying in Russia.

Vladimir Putin’s regime uses both state institutions and the law for prosecution of political opponents, as well as intimidation and defamation of people through specially created as well as existing criminal structures.

The reaction of the authorities to completely justified and fair summer civil protests in Moscow against election fraud represents a new round of attack on civil society aimed at suppressing human and civil dignity, rather than a change in the policy of deafness to society, its interests and requirements.

The “Moscow case” has been going on. Unjustified, baseless, politically motivated sentences have been passed, people remain in jail on obviously false charges.

Persecution of civic activists continues throughout the country, while in addition to the charges formally related to their work to protect the rights of citizens, fabrication of felony charges is used.

A violent operation against those protesting against the landfill in the area of ​​the Shies station has been underway, as if they were saboteurs or bandits, and not Russians who want to save their native land from turning it into a poisonous landfill.

The attack on human rights continues: real human rights organisations are declared foreign agents and stifled by fines, and fakes are promoted in their place. Part of this process is the change of Chair of the Presidential Human Rights Council and the non-inclusion of a number of famous people in the new composition of the Council. The new Human Right Council is already planning to consider the issue of harassment of Russians abroad. [Prime Minister] Medvedev has also said that [the ruling] United Russia [party] will create its own human rights centre.

A shameful law on foreign agents continues to be applied, its effect is expanded through the hasty adoption of the law on foreign agents-individuals.

Propaganda lies do not stop, but grow, an atmosphere of the search for enemies, anger and hatred is created.

We are witnessing an actual return to the Bolshevik and Stalinist policies and the practice of represisals in the 21st century.

A criminal campaign is being launched right now against our Yabloko colleagues.

Federal state media, such as Russia-24, participate together with mercenaries forging fakes in the mean defamation campaign of Boris Vishnevsky, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, which is obviously organised by the authorities.

Konstantin Kiselyov, leader of the Yabloko Faction in the Yekaterinburg City Duma, and his family, is threatened by criminals on the order of the authorities.

Civic activism, both in the regions and in the capital, is fiercely suppressed and will be steadily suppressed with the use of the widest arsenal of methods. At the same time, only political self-organisation of society can protect individuals and all compatriots from a repressive road roller.

Yabloko will use all the party’s capabilities to protect both our comrades and all citizens of the country who are being persecuted for political reasons.

Prevention of further dumping of Russia into a mafia-criminal abyss requires participation [of citizens] in a mass political party that follows the principles of protection of human rights, political and civil rights and freedoms of people, with the goal of building a modern state as a continuation of civil society.

Make your voice louder!

Grigory Yavlinsky,

Chairman of the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko Party

Grigory Yavlinsky is Chairman of the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko Party, Vice-President of Liberal International. Doctor of Economics, Professor of the National Research University “Higher School of Economics”.