The statement says: "The decisions being taken by the Russian authorities are becoming more and more dangerous for society.

Innovations such as the expansion of the presidential term of office by one and a half times, the abolition of jury trials for a whole series of cases, now to be examined by a troika court, the expansion of the concept of state treason to the point of infinity, and the introduction of harsher punishments testify to preparations for waging a politics of emergency measures.

The definition of the crime of “State Treason”, outlined in article 275 of the RF Criminal Code, is now being replaced by deliberately bland and vague formulations. Should these amendments be passed, it will be easy to declare any opponent or critic of the authorities’ actions to be a traitor or a spy.

More than this: anyone who himself comes across something that is later deemed by experts to be a state secret, may also be defined as a traitor.

Citizens’ contacts with international organisations such as “Memorial”, “The Moscow Helsinki Group”, “The International Social-Economic Alliance”, and other human rights, ecological, and humanitarian international organisations, are being rendered potentially criminal.

We view all of the above-listed steps as preparation for major political provocations, for the waging of an aggressive foreign policy in post-Soviet space, for the irregular and corrupt transfer of power, for Soviet-style harsh suppression of dissent and freedom, and for the liquidation even of attempts to create genuine political competition.

The point of the authorities’ latest decisions is the creation of an atmosphere of spymania, of a search for “enemies of the people” with a view to distracting citizens’ attention from the consequences of the economic crisis and the regime’s inability to cope with them, as well as laying the foundation of elements of harsh authoritarian rule in conditions of an artificially created state of emergency.

The Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko" calls the attention of all citizens of the country, of all political, social, civic, human rights organisations, to the serious nature of the impending threat, and to the fact that the regime’s latest decisions represent real steps towards the restoration of an atmosphere of political repressions in Russia.

Coordinator of the Political Committee B. G. Misnik".