Chair of YABLOKO’s Federal Political Committee Grigory Yavlinsky claims that this year the main tasks of the civil society must be the participation in the parliamentary elections and preparation to start an active presidential campaign. He announced it while making a speech at the jubilee conference of the Moscow Helsinki Group.

The protection of human rights must be the core of the political process and the key element of today’s policy in Russia, Yavlinsky says. According to the politician, the wish of human rights defenders to disassociate themselves from politics is “a serious and grave mistake”.

In this regard the founders of the Moscow Helsinki Group serve as a good example for serious politicians. Yavlinsky reminded of a popular quotation by general Petr Grigorenko, a well-known human rights defender, who, when asked whether he was going to create an anti-soviet underground political movement, answered that “only rats can be met in the underground”.

“Isn’t this the thing one should think about every day not to roll into bloodshed and violence with no way out?” Yavlinsky addressed the audience.

According to the politician, the reason for such a situation in the country is the reforms of the 1990s which resulted into the merger of power, property and business. The system which was formed at that period will never go to the change of power or political competition, Yavlinsky claims.

He named the problems which must be solved in order to move Russia towards a modern state. They are “the overcoming of Bolshevism and Stalinism”, professional redress of the results of privatisation of 1990s, separation of power, business and property and overcoming the consequences of the aggressive policy against Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea”.

Yavlinsky is sure that the course proposed by President Putin instead of the European way which was destined to Russia historically does not exist from the point of view of practice, politics or philosophy.

According to Chair of YABLOKO’s Federal Political Committee, all political actions must be peaceful and lawful, they must not lead to bloodshed and violence, therefore the only way to change the system is through elections.

“Can anything be done through elections? Yes, if 70-80 per cent of the citizens of the country participate in them. Then the situation will change and will become similar to what we had in the end of 1980s,” Yavlinsky said.

At the same time, this is a difficult task since not everyone, even those present, realise the importance of participation in the elections.

He reminded that in 2011-2012 the society missed the opportunity to change the situation in the country because they did not have their presidential candidate three months before the elections.

One must start preparing for the presidential election of 2018 now, especially when it may take place a year earlier if Putin realises that the economic situation is changing critically.

The Moscow Helsinki Group is the oldest human rights organisation in Russia. On 12 May, 1976, during the press conference at the flat of Andrei Sakharov, member of the Academy of Sciences, it was declared that the organisation was founded. YABLOKO’s leaders and activists including members of the Federal Political Committee Sergei Mitrokhin, Alexei Yablokov, Lev Shlosberg, Victor Sheinis, Chair of the Altai branch of YABLOKO Alexander Goncharenko, ex-defendant of the Bolotnaya Squaree rally case Nikolai Kavkazsky and the others were present at the jubilee conference.