Over 24 hours have passed since the detention of hundreds of people in the center of Moscow [during a mass-scale non-permitted protest action]. Many still remain in custody. They must be released immediately. 

Judging by what we and the whole country could see on the place and via  broadcasting, there were mass detentions without any grounds. Hundreds of people arrested at random who either did not violate any laws, or whose violations were highly questionable and required more serious evidence, found themselves in police stations. 

In any case, they are citizens of our country who believe that the massive and omnipresent corruption and unbridled theft of the state bureaucracy represent a threat to the national security. There are dozens of millions of such people. 

They are young people, who with good reason believe that there future is stolen from them. The problem of corruption in the bureaucracy, starting from the very top, is obvious, the channels of communication inside the society are clogged with lies and propaganda, and officials respond with mockery to [citizens’] attempts to organize legitimate protest actions. 

Many people who have nothing to do with politics, do not have other means to shout about their problems, except for a civil riot. The political meaning and efficiency of such protests is a separate issue and should not even be discussed now. Today the main thing is to stop the suffering of people. We demand to release  Russian citizens detained on 26 March. 

Our party has been helping the detainees since yesterday, it is coordinated by Andrei Babushkin, member of the Regional Council of the Moscow branch of YABLOKO. If you or your loved ones need help, or if you have information about an illegally seized and detained person, please call Boris Mamatov, a public receptionist of the Moscow branch of YABLOKO, tel.: 8 (925) 713-78-99 or 8 (495) 532-30 -14.

Grigory Yalvinsky,
Chairman Of the Federal Political Committee,
YABLOKO