Tuesday Vladimir Putin and Grigory Yavlinsky discussed the scandalous detention of the leader of St Petersburg branch of Yabloko Maxim Reznik. Yavlinsky stated he considers the criminal case started to be an act of revenge on Yabloko in St Petersburg and he considers it to be necessary the release of Mr. Reznik. President promised to look into the matter.  

Probably, the scandal has got such a scale that it began to be an annoyance to the Kremlin. It was possible not to consider the appeals by hundreds of famous and ordinary citizens. But there are also letters by the Duma deputies, publications in the media, including the western ones, and statements by western politicians. All that looks not very nice at the background of electing the new president who declared himself to be the advocate of the jural state and the champion for justice. Probably, Valentina Matvienko received an annoyed call from Moscow, as arrest of Reznik was purely St Petersburg initiative. No matter if it was done by the governor’s order or it was the law enforcement bodies who decided to please the governor, taking the leader of the local Yabloko branch to prison.      

10 March an interesting program “Vesti nedeli” (week’s news) was issued on the local TV. It told about a press conference in St Petersburg where spoke Yavlinsky and Boris Gruzd, the Mr. Reznik’s lawyer. Mr. Reznik himself also had a say being in the courtroom. Also shown was a flash mob near the building of St Petersburg prosecutor’s office. Then it was concluded that the police laid it thick and a rhetorical question was asked: who is to profit from it? The answer was that it must be “someone in Moscow” who wishes to compromise Valentina Matvienko, disliking her ability to carry out a positive dialogue with different political forces. Anyone who sees “Vesti” regularly - and this is the official mouthpiece of the St Petersburg Administration - they will easily conclude that it is trying to shift responsibility, which is obviously disliked by the Kremlin as it is a violation of subordination.  

It happened after Putin-Yavlinsky meeting that Reznik’s mother was refused to see her son in the prison, as the investigator Kalganov is irritated with the alleged fact that Maxim Reznik even being behind the bars is managing the actions of protest in his support.