Yashin Tries to Unseat Yavlinsky

By David Nowak

Staff Writer

Published: December 21, 2007 (Issue # 1334)

MOSCOW — Ilya Yashin, the 24-year-old leader of Yabloko’s youth group, announced Wednesday that he would seek to unseat Grigory Yavlinsky as the party’s leader and unite liberal politicians in a new political movement.

“People are not able to choose between good democrats and bad democrats,” Yashin said at a news conference.

“We need to create a democratic party that will act as a magnet for everyone with these general values,” he said.

Yashin is a revolutionary-minded activist who is conspicuous at anti-Kremlin rallies. He has been seen hanging from a bridge and being chased through the street by OMON riot police.

He said Wednesday’s announcement was a first step toward stirring a popular revolution. “To change the power structures in this country will require something akin to Polish solidarity,” he said.

Yavlinsky — who has led Yabloko since its founding in 1995 and rejects uniting at the expense of Yabloko’s social-democratic values — has said Yashin is not ready to take the helm of the party.

“He would need to become not today’s Ilya Yashin, but someone rather different,” Yavlinsky said at a news conference last month.

Yevgenia Dillendorf, Yavlinsky’s spokeswoman, said his views on the matter have not changed.

Yashin said Wednesday that he had no idea what Yavlinsky meant by saying he would need to change to become leader.

Although adamant that he has no personal conflict with Yavlinsky, Yashin accused him of putting the integrity of the party above the democratic movement. He said Yavlinsky had told him that party officials were in regular contact with the presidential administration.

“I guarantee that, if I become Yabloko’s leader, I will not allow any cooperation with the Kremlin,” Yashin said.

Yabloko officials have denied links with the Kremlin.