Press Release 27.10.2021

Photo: Environmental journalist Tatiana Artyomova, Nikolai Rybakov and the leader of the Separate Collection movement Tatiana Nagorskaya. / Photo by the Yabloko party Press Service

On 27 October, the Fifth Alexei Yablokov Readings were held in St. Petersburg. This is an annual event in memory of Alexei Vladimirovich Yablokov (1933 – 2017), an outstanding Russian scientist, ecologist and politician, leader of the Green Russia Faction of the Yabloko party.

Alexei Yablokov Readings join together environmental activists from all over the country and represent a platform for them to jointly find solutions to environmental problems and develop approaches to sustainable development and protection of nature.

This year, Yabloko was presented at the Readings by the Chairman of the party Nikolai Rybakov, Olga Tsepilova, leader of the Green Russia Faction, Olga Shtannikova, a member of the Federal Council of the party, Dmitry Rybakov, a deputy of the Petrozavodsk City Council, Vladimir Desyatov, the oldest member of the Green Russia Faction, and Alexander Kolotov, Chairman of the Krasnoyarsk branch of the Green Russia Faction of the party.

Olga Shtannikova, head of the Office of the Ombudsman for Human Rights in St. Petersburg and a Yabloko member, transferred the traditional greeting from the Ombudsman.

Photo: Olga Shtannikova and Olga Tsepilova at the portrait of Alexei Yablokov. / Photo by the Yabloko party Press Service

The report by Olga Tsepilova, head of the Green Russia Faction, was dedicated to the sociological view of the “green” parties in Russia.

Yabloko leader Nikolai Rybakov became the host of the session on waste management. According to Rybakov, “all waste can be disposed of or recycled in a safe way, but this requires a really functioning system of collection, sorting and recycling”. Organisations dealing with waste sorting and recycling require state support, as this is a low-margin business, he noted. Rybakov called for complete abandoning of waste incineration and switching to a waste recycling system. “This will help preserve the environment and nature for us, our children and future generations,” the Yabloko leader concluded.

Dmitry Rybakov, who was elected as a deputy of the City Council of Petrozavodsk (Karelia) at the past elections, spoke about the environment of the North-West of Russia – the state of water, air and the main changes in these areas.

Alexander Kolotov, a Krasnoyarsk ecologist and a Yabloko member, spoke at the session about the so-called “hot spots”. His report was entitled “Lake Baikal and Degradation: the World Natural Heritage at Risk”.

Nikolai Rybakov and Olga Tsepilova took part in the press conference along with representatives of environmental organisations and environmental scientists.

The oldest member of the Green Russia faction, Vladimir Devyatov, presented the resolution of the Fifth Alexei Yablokov Readings.