YABLOKO Yabloko Russian United Democratic Party

The Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko" (Russian: Российская объединённая демократическая партия «Яблоко» Rossiyskaya obyedinyonnaya demokraticheskaya partiya "Yabloko"; (Russian: Яблоко - "Apple") is a Russian social liberal party founded by Grigory Yavlinsky and currently led by Sergey Mitrokhin, an opposition member of the Moscow City Duma. The party logo consists of a red circle and a green isosceles triangle, suggesting an apple in a constructivist style.

YABLOKO Ideology: liberal, democratic. Participation in international organisations: full member of the Liberal International since 2002 and member of the ELDR party since 2006.

The party dates back to early 1990s. The immediate predecessor of the Yabloko party was the electoral cartel Yavlinsky- Boldyrev-Lukin, formed for the legislative elections of "Yabloko" is an acronym of the names of its founders: "Я" (Ya) for Grigory Yavlinsky; "Б" (B) for Yuri Boldyrev, and "Л" (L) for Vladimir Lukin, the name meaning "apple" in Russian. The party stands for the greater freedom and civil liberties in Russia, for greater integration with the West, better relations with theUnited States and membership in the European Union.

The party opposed president Boris Yeltsin's and his prime ministers' policies, earning the reputation of a determined opposition movement that nevertheless was devoted to democratic reforms (in contrast, most of the opposition was communist and/or nationalist at that time). Similarly, it has continued to oppose Vladimir Putin for what they see as his increasing authoritarianism and has called for the removal of his elected government "by constitutional means."

Yabloko had a parliamentary faction in the State Duma of 1 – 3 convocations. The founder and Chair of the party (until 2008) Grigory Yavlinsky came fourth and third in presidential elections of 1996 and 2000, respectively. YABLOKO consistently opposed criminal Russian privatization of 1990s, loans-for-shares auctions and the war in Chechnya. The party offered to the society and the government several programmes and action plans including The Democratic Manifesto, The Road Map of the Russian Reforms (a plan for overcoming of the consequences of criminal privatization and dismantling of the oligarchic capitalism) and Seven Steps Towards Equal Opportunities.

The Russian Democratic Party Yabloko had been an observer of the Liberal International since 2002, and became a full member after the ELDR Bucharest congress in October The party's central office is located in Moscow. In the Russian legislative election, 2007, Yabloko lost its representation in the State Duma. In the Russian Regional elections on 4 December 2011 Yabloko won a few places in regional parliaments of Russia: 6 of 50 in Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg, 4 of 50 in Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia and 1 of 44 in Pskov legislative body.

The party has the following factions (each of them has branches in at least 26 Russian regions and cooperates with other public organisations in this field): the Green Russia, Soldiers Mothers, Human Rights, Womens (Gender) faction, Youth faction, Socio-Democratic faction, Entrepreneurs faction (small business) and Pensioners' faction. YABLOKO also cooperates with new civil initiatives and public organisations protecting human rights in the social sphere. The recent resolutions, 2009: Anti-crisis Programme Housing, Land and Roads, Overcoming Bolshevism and Stalinism as a Key Factor for Russias Transformation in the 21st Century, On Russias Foreign Policies.

At present The party has 56,142 members, 76 regional organisations and over 600 local organisations. Chairman: Sergei Mitrokhin. Political Committee is comprised of 12 people, including Grigory Yavlinsky, Sergei Ivanenko, Igor Artemyev (Chair of the Russian Anti-Monopoly Service), Elena Dubrovina (member of the Central Electoral Commission), Alexei Arbatov and Alexei Yablokov (members of the Russian Academy of Science) and human rights activist Sergei Kovalyov.