Press release, 14.10.2017

Grigory Yavlinsky intends to participate in the presidential elections in order to prevent the “historical defeat of Russia” meaning Russia’s turning into a backward country isolated from Europe where it historically belongs. According to Yavlinsky, Vladimir Putin’s policies represent “a break with reality and counterposition to the historical development.” He made this statement at the launch of the Liberal Manifesto 2017, which is being held in Moscow today.

Grigory Yavlinsky noted that the present Russia’s policies contradicted all the ten goals set forth by liberals in the Manifesto: ensuring equal rights for all and protecting human rights, strengthening democratic institutions, protecting freedom of information, fostering, extending and promoting education and ensuring access to health care, securing sustainability of global growth, promoting technological advances, supporting trade and investment, supporting controlled migration, and strengthening of international peace and cooperation.

“Rejection of value-impartial law and justice has been taking place in Russia, the state ideology has been enhancing and a revision of all the branches of law – the administrative, the constitutional, the civil and the criminal has been taking place proceeding from such a stance,” Yabloko presidential candidate noted.

According to Yavlinsky, all this leads to a deep demodernisation of society. Yavlinsky stressed that the past 20 years had shown that economic growth without modernisation of society led to a war.

Therefore, Yabloko leader would run in the presidential elections with a programme envisaging ending the war with Ukraine and Syria, normalisation of relations between Russia and the world, creation of the institute of private property, which had been virtually non-existent in Russia, establishment of the institute of independent court, as well as priority of the development of education and health care were the key issues of his presidential programme. Yavlinsky stressed that the meaning of such a programme was to “avoid the historical defeat of Russia.”

He quoted the famous saying by Sir Winston Churchill “if you are not a liberal at 25, you have no heart, if you are not a conservative at 35 you have no brain” adding that “and the one who supports the current [Russia’s] policies today has neither the first nor the second, because he simply pushes Russia into the abyss.”

Yavlinsky called Vladimir Putin’s policies “a break with reality and his counterposition to the historical development.” According to Yavlinsky, the collapse of Russian statehood had already occurred on this basis in 1917 and 1991. “Our mission and our task is to prevent this collapse to happen once again,” he stressed.

Yavlinsky also dwelt in detail on why the word liberal became a curse in Russia. All this was rooted in the reforms of 1990s that were called “liberal”, but were not liberal at all.

Grigory Yavlinsky expressed his certainty that the world community also bore responsibility for the disillusionment of Russian society in the liberal ideas: European and American governments and international economic institutions “unreasonably, unthinkingly and unprofessionally” supported the so-called reformers in Russia in 1990s.

The second reason for the disappointment of Russians in liberalism, according to Yavlinsky, were the current developments in Europe: Brexit, broad public support for extreme right and extreme left in France, the rise of nationalists and the left-wing in Germany, etc.

Liberal International was founded in 1947. It is an influential international organisation joining together over 100 liberal parties and movements from 90 countries of the world. Members of Liberal International hold top state posts in many countries. Yabloko is the only Russian party in the Liberal International and its full member.

Yabloko adopted the decision on Grigory Yavlinsky’s participation in the presidential election 2018 at the party congress in February 2016. Grigory Yavlinsky participated in the presidential elections twice. In 1996, he came fourth, and in 2000 he was the third. The authorities removed Yavlinsky from presidential elections 2012 for political reasons.