Press Release, 26.08.2016

On 24 August, the YABLOKO party applied to police because several party banners in Barnaul, the capital of Altai, were dismantled by unidentified persons.

During the election campaign to the Legislative Assembly of the Altai Territory, the regional branch of YABLOKO concluded a contract on placement and demonstration of election propaganda materials with the company IP Ivannikov P.A. The payment was made from the election fund of the regional branch of the party as required by law.

Banners were installed, however, on 22 August, several banners were dismantled.

The advertising company considers the incident an act of vandalism and offers to the party to install banners in other places for an additional charge.

“It is not the first attempt to disrupt the election campaign of the party in the Altai Territory that we see. It is striking that the problem with the street advertising of our party occurred only in Barnaul. Therefore, it can not be ruled out that forces close to the Mayor’s Office are behind this. The police should find out whether it is true or not,” Alexander Goncharenko, leader of the Altai branch of YABLOKO said.

Goncharenko also stressed that YABLOKO was opposing candidates from the government and their party responsible for leading the region to the last places in the key socio-economic parameters in Russia and Siberia, first and foremost as of personal incomes.

“We began collecting signatures for the pre-term dismissal of the Governor of the region. The fight is tough. Libel and administrative resource are used [by the ruling party]. We are very grateful to everyone who responded to our request to place our banner “Let Us Get Altai Out of Poverty!” on their balconies,” Goncharenko said.