Protest against political repressions held in Krasnodar on Day of Russia

On June 12, activists of the Krasnodar territorial branch of the youth wing of the "Yabloko" Party held an action – during celebrations of the Day of Russia – named "Putin's Russia", during which they expressed protest against the political repressions in the country.

The action in the form of solo pickets accompanied by the posters "Putin's Russia is jail" and "Freedom to political prisoners" was staged in the centre of Krasnodar, near Pushkin Square, where at that time a concert took place dedicated to the celebration on June 12 of the Day of Russia.

"The people, who left the official celebration, actively reacted to the 'Yabloko' activists; many of them expressed solidarity with the posters and photographed each other next to them," Alexei Mandrigelya, the head of the local youth "Yabloko", told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

The picketing held in Krasnodar was aimed against political repressions in Russia and in the Kuban region (the Krasnodar Territory); activists of "Yabloko" believe that the list of such repressions includes the "Bolotnaya Square case", the arrest of Professor Mikhail Savva, the conviction of the ecologists Suren Gazaryan and Evgeniy Vitishko, the recent searches of the house of the house of Vladimir Kimaev, the chairman of the Sochi local branch of the "Yabloko" Party, and the pressure on nongovernmental organizations in the region and the country as a whole – the Southern Regional Resource Centre (SRRC), "Ecological Watch for Northern Caucasus" and the Association "Golos".