Press Release, 29.10.2021

On 29 October, Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov, Ivan Bolshakov, Yabloko Deputy Chairman, Galina Mikhaleva, Chair of the Gender faction and party activists and supporters laid flowers at the Solovetsky Stone monument in Moscow.

The Solovetsky Stone in Moscow is one of the most significant monuments to the victims of political repression killed in Joseph Stalin’s period, 1930 – 1953. The stone was brought to Moscow from the territory of the former Solovetsky Camp, which became the symbol of the GULAG.

The action took place on the eve of the Day of Remembrance for Victims of Political Repression. Every year on 29 October 29, for 13 years already, the Memorial human rights group (which was proclaimed a “foreign agent” by the authorities, the very label bearing strong connotations with repressions in the USSR) has been carrying out the action “Returning the Names” at the Solovetsky Stone, this year the action takes place online due to COVID restrictions: citizens read out the names of those shot during the Stalinist repressions.

Yabloko leader Nikolai Rybakov noted that in almost every city in Russia “there are places where some citizens shot others during the period of repressions and the Great Terror of 1936-1938”.

“Coming to the memorial places, I think about how thin the line is between the disputes of people and the beginning of executions of undesirable people. Many people think that times like these will not return, but one cannot just keep idle. It is necessary to make the return of such times impossible. Our responsibility is to talk about the inadmissibility of political repressions and do everything so that such times do not return to our country,” Rybakov said.

According to Ivan Bolshakov, Deputy Chairman of Yabloko, the current political regime “is largely a continuation of the Soviet period and the Stalinist system”. Hence we see the search for external and internal enemies, prohibitions, repression, official labelling organisations and people “foreign agents” and the irremovability of power.

“This will continue until we carry out a real de-Stalinisation and assess the Stalinist period. Without this, we will continue to live in unfreedom,” Bolshakov said.

Galina Mikhaleva, Chair of the Yabloko Gender Faction, noted that despite the fact that so many years passed, the topic had not yet been comprehended.

“The forces that consider Stalin to be an “efficient political manager” are becoming increasingly stronger. Until we have given an assessment of the Great Terror, we will not be able to move on. Our goal is a democratic state governed by the rule of law and a developed society,” Mikhaleva said.

Photo by the Yabloko Press Service