Press Release, 28.02.2022

Photo: Lenin Square in St.Petersburg, a specially designated site for holding public actions without any permissions from the authorities / Photo from topspb.tv

The administration of the Kalininsky district of St. Petersburg banned a rally for peace with Ukraine referring to the anti-COVID decree of the city government, which prohibits holding public events in St.Petersburg until 31 March.

Earlier, Alexander Shishlov and Boris Vishnevsky, leaders of the St. Petersburg Yabloko and deputies of the Legislative Assembly of St.Peterburg, and Anatoly Golov, a member of the Federal Bureau of the Yabloko party, officially notified the administration of the Kalininsky district that they intended to hold a rally in the “Hyde Park” (a specially designated site for holding public actions without any permissions from the authorities) in Lenin Square on 2 March from 18:00 to 20:00 in order to “express the demands for the cessation of hostilities against Ukraine”.

“We believe this ban itself is unlawful, since even during the pandemic, citizens should be able to express their disagreement with the actions of the authorities. Today, the organisers of the rally – Anatoly Golov, Alexander Shishlov and myself – will discuss the situation and report on further actions,” Boris Vishnevsky said.

On 24 February, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation in Donbass”. On 13 February, the Yabloko party began collecting signatures against the war with Ukraine; the petition has collected over 76,000 signatures of Russian citizens as of 28 February.