Press Release, 08.02.2022

Photo: Alexander Biryukov, Alexander Korovainy, and Sofia Pilyukova / Photo from social networks

Alexander Korovayny, a former deputy of the Yeisk District Council from the Yabloko party, Alexander Biryukov, a Yabloko member and Deputy Chairman of the North Caucasus Environmental Watch, and Sofia Pilyukova, a public activist and a Yabloko volunteer in the parliamentary elections in 2021, were included into the ranking of public figures of the Krasnodar Territory based on the results of work in 2021. The ranking was published by the human rights Internet portal Protocol basing on the results of an expert assessment by well-known journalists, members of the regional Public Chamber, the Governor’s Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, municipal deputies, and members of public organisations.

The editorial board of the Protocol selected 200 public activists, whose work was analysed by both pro-government and opposition experts. The evaluation criteria included such aspects as association with the authorities and public institutions, popular support, efficiency of work, public recognition and trust, information transparency, and personal qualities.

Alexander Korovainy was ranked second, despite the fact that he was deprived of his deputy mandate in accordance with the decision of the Yeisk District Council of December 8, 2021. The formal pretext for depriving Korovainy of his deputy mandate was that his bank account in opened in Sberbank in 1992 and closed in 2012 had not been reflected in his anti-corruption declaration for 2021. The initiative to deprive Korovainy of his mandate for allegedly incomplete information came from the Governor of the Krasnodar Territory Veniamin Kondratyev.

The authors of the ranking note that Alexander Korovayny enjoys broad support from the residents of the Yeisk District. He knows how to organise people in order to solve common problems. Moreover, he is supported by many federal politicians and representatives of the media.

Alexander Biryukov, former Chairman of the Primorsko-Akhtarsky District branch of the Yabloko party and ex-deputy of the Primorsko-Akhtarsky District Council, has been engaged in public activities in the field of environmental protection, for many years protecting the Akhtar-Grivensk estuary system, which is under the protection of the Ramsar Convention.

Civil activist Sofia Pilyukova was engaged in organising observation of the elections to the State Duma in September 2021 in the Krasnodar Territory and enjoys support of other activists and residents of the region.

See also:

On the search in the house of Alexander Korovainy, leader of Yabloko’s Green Russia faction in Krasnodar. Statement by Nikolai Rybakov and Olga Tsepilova, 18.11.2020 (https://eng.yabloko.ru/on-the-search-in-the-house-of-alexander-korovainy-leader-of-yablokos-green-russia-faction-in-krasnodar/ )

Freedom to Alexander Korovainy! Statement by the Yabloko party, 25.06.2020

(https://eng.yabloko.ru/freedom-to-alexander-korovainy/ )