KAZAN -- The Russian opposition Yabloko party has published its election program in 15 languages spoken in the Russian Federation in what it says is a response to the November 4 marches by nationalists across the country, RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir Service reports.
Meeting on November 3 with residents of the Tatar capital of Kazan, Yabloko leader Sergei Mitrokhin and the leader of Yabloko's branch in Tatarstan, Andrei Babushkin, said National Unity Day, which is celebrated on November 4, has turned into a platform for ultranationalist groups whose radical slogans may lead to the "dissolution of the Russian Federation."
For the first time, Mitrokhin and his team distributed brochures in the Tatar and Bashkir languages with Yabloko's election platform for the Russian State Duma elections on December 4. Mitrokhin said no one in Russia would suffer if the Tatar language were designated Russia's second state language.
Yabloko published its election platform in 15 languages, including Russian, on its website.
Thousands of nationalist activists rallied in Moscow's Lyublino district on November 4, holding banners with nationalist slogans. Hundreds of ultranationalist activists held similar gatherings in other Russian cities.
Thousands of nationalist activists rallied in Moscow's Lyublino district on November 4, holding banners with nationalist slogans. Hundreds of ultranationalist activists held similar gatherings in other Russian cities.
Tatars are the second-largest ethnic group in Russia. Some Tatar organizations launched a campaign in 2009 to have Tatar proclaimed Russia's second official language.
Read more in Tatar here
Read more in Tatar here
