Your home is a prison

After the arrest of Maxim Reznik, the St. Petersburg "Yabloko" is thrown into the street

The date of the arrest of the leader of the St. Petersburg branch of Yabloko, Maxim Reznik, coincided with the “outgoing” date of letters sent by the St. Petersburg Committee for City Property Management (KUGI) to the regional branch of the party demanding to vacate the premises in house No. 46 on Mayakovsky Street by June 1 of this year. Both events took place on March 3 - immediately after the presidential elections. But this is not the only coincidence. The appearance of letters to the regional branch of Yabloko with a demand to vacate the premises became known yesterday - the day after the meeting of party leader Grigory Yavlinsky with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At that meeting, according to Mr. Yavlinsky, Mr. Putin promised to look into the arrest of Maxim Reznik.

As the St. Petersburg Yabloko members told Vremya Novostei, the arrest of their leader and the eviction of the party headquarters is nothing more than a political action by the authorities of the northern capital. And, apparently, at the city government level this decision was made a long time ago. This is indicated by several indirect reasons.

In total, St. Petersburg Yabloko members received three letters from the authorities. Two from KUGI signed by the chairman of the committee Igor Metelsky and one from the vice-governor of the northern capital Yuri Molchanov, who oversees issues of accounting for state property and its disposal. The first two are purely official; they deal with agreements for two adjacent premises occupied by Yabloko members in a house on Mayakovskaya. Officials report that both agreements expired back in 2006, and that KUGI refuses to renew them and demands that the party vacate the premises by June 1 of this year. Igor Metelsky does not offer a “housing” alternative to Yabloko.

The party occupied this office as a socio-political organization. This provides certain advantages in terms of reducing the rental rate, but requires strict adherence to the schedule of all payments. And, as the press secretary of the St. Petersburg Yabloko, Alexander Shurshev, told Vremya Novostey, all articles of the agreement were strictly implemented by the regional branch of the party. Despite the fact that the contract expired more than a year ago, rent and utility bills were paid on time.

But, as KUGI told a Vremya Novostei correspondent, officials are not obliged to provide any premises to public organizations on their own initiative. To do this, the tenant must contact the committee with a corresponding request. But the St. Petersburg “Yabloko” has not submitted such requests to KUGI since the end of the contract.

Although, apparently, the decision that sooner or later the party would have to vacate the premises was made back in 2005. It was then that KUGI offered in writing to the Yabloko members to repair the facades of the mansion they occupied at their own expense, and for this the city agreed to extend the lease agreement for ten years and reduce payments by the amount spent on the reconstruction of the building. The socio-political organization, of course, agreed to this proposal, which it notified KUGI in writing. But after that everything went quiet. The officials did not respond in any way to the consent, and the authorities in every possible way avoided communication on this topic. It is clear that the rank and file of the local committee employees did not know anything about this kind of boycott and at the end of last year, quite honestly, sent to the St. Petersburg “Yabloko” new (increased) rental rates and the “grid” according to which the party should pay the city during 2008 year.

Also, it was after the arrest of Maxim Reznik that it became clear that the St. Petersburg budget for 2008 included funds for the reconstruction of this building, and there was already a decision by the city government to subsequently transfer it to the operational management of the Committee for Economic Development, Industrial Policy and Trade (KERPPiT). Vice-Governor Yuri Molchanov reported this to Yabloko in his letter. He writes that house No. 46 on Mayakovsky Street is included in the investment-targeted program and should be transferred to KERPPiT. He also promises to ask the chairman of the economic development committee to leave Yabloko on Mayakovskaya.

But the vice-governor’s promise does not sound particularly encouraging, since in the plans of the KERPPiT one can see an open mockery of Yabloko - officials are planning “on their own initiative” to organize in this building the House of Small Business, which the St. Petersburg “Yabloko” members have been dreaming of for several years and We have repeatedly approached governments at various levels with this initiative, but have not found support.

By the way, Yabloko members were going to talk about supporting small businesses at the conference “A New Agenda for the Democratic Movement,” which is to be held in St. Petersburg on March 22. After the arrest of Maxim Reznik, fears arose that the event would not take place at all, because the leader of the St. Petersburg Yabloko is the head of its federal organizing committee. However, as Alexander Shurshev told Vremya Novostei yesterday, the conference will take place, and Yabloko will participate in it.

Mikhail TELEKHOV, St. Petersburg