| The leader of the YABLOKO party Grigory Yavlinsky
advocates a change in Russia's political course. "It should
be changed," Yavlinsky said at the meeting of the Federal
Council of YABLOKO on Saturday, which was broadcasted by the Ekho
Moskvi radio station.
The chairman of the party thinks that the change of the course
should affect all basic structures, including the ministry of
interior, the security services and the military. At the same
time, Yavlinsky noted that he did not imply a change of President.
On Saturday Yavlinsky formally announced the beginning of preparations
for the parliamentary elections scheduled for 2003. He called
on all supporters of YABLOKO to unite their efforts in the development
of YABLOKO's electoral programme.
According to Yavlinsky YABLOKO is ready to assume responsibility
for the task of resolving the problems facing the country today,
as the "country has been gradually dragged into a crisis".
Despite relatively good macroeconomic indices, the structural
imbalance towards the fuel and energy complex at the expense of
high technology production has been on the rise in Russia's economy.
Members of the Federal Council of YABLOKO expressed their support
for Russia's foreign policy course, and adopted a special resolution
on this issue. The document calls the policy that led to Russia's
participation in the coalition of developed democracies "strategically
correct" and "useful". At the same time Yavlinsky
stressed that this breakthrough has still not been connected with
Russia's domestic policies. | 