Press release, 06.07.2016

Head of the Communists of Russia party Maxim Suraykin claims that YABLOKO’s registration must be revoked, Russian News Service reported yestersay. He forwarded an official enquiry to the Ministry of Justice and Prosecutor General’s Office demanding to check YABLOKO’s electoral programme for violation of Articles 280 and 280.1 of the Russian Criminal Code: public calls for extremist activities and public calls for actions aimed to violate the territorial integrity of Russia.

The reason for such an enquiry has become YABLOKO’s programme draft that runs that “Our stance is quite clear: we stand for the inviolability of borders in Europe, we support the territorial integrity of Ukraine and we consider that Crimea belongs to Ukraine, its annexation is unlawful and must be annulled. We think that the future of Crimea must be decided by the residents of the peninsula under corresponding legislation. We do not recognize the referendum which was conducted hastily beyond all rules, laws and norms under “guardianship” of the Russian military”.

Last week Sevastopol Vice-Governor Alexander Reshetnikov also forwarded an enquiry to the Federal Security Service demanding that YABLOKO must be checked for extremism under Article 280.1 (public calls for actions aimed to violate the territorial integrity of Russia), Interfax reported July 2.

After the annexation of Crimea Vladimir Putin signed a law that increases the punishment for public calls for separatism. The maximum punishment for the felony is the imprisonment of up to four years.

However, YABLOKO  claims that “an internationally recognized referendum held under Ukrainian legislation and international standards under objective international control” may become the solution of the problem. All YABLOKO’s candidates, who are not members of the party, have to sign the Memorandum of Political Alternative, containing the party’s stance on the situation with Crimea.