Amanda Lövkvist (SILC), Johan Chytraeus (LUF) and I arrived in St Petersburg right after Victory Day and when the conflict with Estonia over moving the Bronze soldier had started to calm down. Kostya and Sasja from Yabloko Youth picked us up at the airport and drove us to the hotel. Just a few hours after arriving we held our first workshop on possibilities for future cooperation between IFLRY, LUF and Yabloko.

After giving a couple of examples of what IFLRY has been doing lately the participants were divided into groups to come up with suggestions on what we could do together. Two of the groups suggested that we should help bring a photo exhibition on the situation in Russia outside the country and most groups liked the idea of arranging summer camps to discuss successful campaign methods.

Yabloko and Yabloko youth has quite a proud history and are very strong in St Petersburg. Unfortunately, they weren’t allowed to run in the last elections due to accusations of fraud when gathering the necessary signatures to be able to register for the elections. However, it is more likely that they were ousted by Kreml for not supporting the construction of the 396 meter tall Gazprom tower in historical St Petersburg according to Sasja. A tower that will be financed by the municipality of St Petersburg although the company is owned by the state. The tallest building in St Petersburg is currently St Peter’s and St Paul’s cathedral at 121,8 meters. 

With their strong stand against constructing Gazprom tower Yabloko gained a lot of support and it is now

believed that this is the reason that they could not run in the latest municipal elections in St Petersburg.

After the manifestations in mid-April another round of manifestations will be held on 18th of May.

Hopefully, Yabloko youth will be able to follow through with their peaceful demonstrations this time.

Leaving St Petersburg we looked for Georgian wine but there was none in sight. Seems like there is still a boycott on Georgian wine after the conflict between the two countries last year.

/ Daniel W