Nikolay Rybakov

Born in Leningrad in 1978, Nikolay graduated from the St. Petersburg State Transport University, the academic department of Economics of the Construction Industry. Nikolay started his career at the age of 13 working in a farm in the Priozersk region, later - in the construction cooperative "Sodruzhestvo".

From 1997 to 2000 he worked as an assistant to the deputy of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg Mikhail Amosov.

From 2000 to 2001 he worked as a chief specialist at the EPIcenter St. Petersburg Foundation for Economic and Political Research (headed by Igor Artemyev, now an assistant to the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation). At the Foundation, Nikolai was in charge of issues of youth policy and education.

In 2000 Rybakov was elected a deputy of the Municipal Formation "Svetlanovskoye" of St. Petersburg. In the municipality he became the chairman of the commission on budget, finance and property. In 2004 he was elected a deputy of the Municipal Council "Grazhdanka" (St. Petersburg). In the council Rybakov became the chairman of the commission on budgetary, legal and information issues. He also was a member of the editorial board of the newspaper "Municipalnaya Grazhdanka".

In 2006 he was elected head of the Local Administration of the Municipal Formation "Grazhdanka" (St. Petersburg). As head of administration, Rybakov was engaged not only in solving economic issues, but also carried out educational work. The municipality has repeatedly won various urban landscaping competitions. In 2008 he was removed from office. According to another version, Rybakov lost his post as head of the administration because he initiated an investigation, as a result of which the municipalities discovered violations in the organization of conscription.

From 2008 to 2015, Rybakov worked as executive director of the Bellona Environmental Human Rights Center. From 2010 to 2015, he was the editor-in-chief of the Bellona.ru. From 2014 to 2015 Nikolai was the editor-in-chief of the journal "Ecology and Law".[3]

Nikolay Joined the youth wing of the Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko in 1995 at the age of 16. In 1999–2000, he was the chair of the youth wing. In 2005, he was elected in the bureau of the Saint Petersburg branch of the party. From 2005 to 2009 was an editor of the party bulletin Democrat. Since 2008, he is the member of the national bureau of the party. In 2015 he ran for the position of the chair in the party but did not win and became a vice-chair, while Emilia Slabunova became a chair.[4]

Rybakov was one of the organizers of the protests against the construction of Gazprom's planned headquarters, the 400 meter Okhta Center skyscraper, which would have towered over Saint Petersburg's historical center (a World Heritage Site). Rybakov had logged a complaint in court against the city government order to allow construction of the 400-meter-high office for Gazprom on the border of the historical center. The court adjudicated but after public outcry, the Saint Petersburg government decided to abolish the order.[5]

Nikolay Rybakov is one of the authors of the movie about crimes during the second Chechen war «Aldy. No limitation period» (in Russian – «Алды. Без срока давности») together with Ekaterina Sokirianskaia from Memorial (society) and Elena Vilenskaya («House of peace and non-violence»). The journalist and human rights activist Natalia Estemirova, assassinated in 2009, and an actor Aleksey Devotchenko were contributing to the movie.

Participated in all election campaigns of the party in St. Petersburg since 1995. Started working as an agitator and distributor of party materials. In 1998, he headed the headquarters of the election campaign for the election of Mikhail Amosov to the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg (won in the first round, having received more than 55% of the vote).

In 1999, he was one of the chiefs of the headquarters for the election of Sergei Stepashin to the State Duma, who ran as a candidate from the Yabloko party in one of the districts in St. Petersburg. As a result of the elections, Sergei Stepashin, gaining 49% of the votes, won the electoral district of Gennady Seleznev, who at that time was the chairman of the State Duma[6]

In 2000 he was firstly elected a member of the Political Council of the St. Petersburg branch of the Yabloko party and the head of the Vyborg regional organization of the party.

2002-2003 - assistant to the deputy of the Yabloko faction in the State Duma of the Russian Federation Sergei Mitrokhin.

In October 2005, he was elected a member of the bureau of the regional council of the St. Petersburg branch of the Yabloko party.

From 2005 to 2009 he was the editor of the party edition - the bulletin "Demokrat".

Since 2008 - a member of the federal bureau of the Yabloko party.

Since 2009 - Deputy Chairman of the St. Petersburg branch of the Yabloko party.

In 2011, he headed the election headquarters of the Yabloko party for elections to the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg and the headquarters for elections to the State Duma in St. Petersburg. The party officially received 12.73% of the vote (236,632 votes), according to exit pools, up to 18.9% of the vote.

In 2012 - Rybakov was working as head of the headquarters for the election of Grigory Yavlinsky for the post of President of Russia in St. Petersburg.
In 2012-2014 he represented the party in the coalition "Democratic Petersburg".

In 2015, he ran for the post of chairman of the Yabloko party, but was not elected.[7]

In 2019 Rybakov was elected as chairman of the Yabloko party. He won the first round, gaining 69 votes from the delegates to the congress (the head of the Pskov Yabloko Lev Shlosberg received 40 votes, the current party chairman, deputy of the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Karelia Emilia Slabunova - 19 votes).[8]

Since 2020 Nikolay Rybakov is a member of the Public Constitutional Council created to develop alternative amendments to the Constitution of the Russian Federation.
On March 5, 2020, he applied to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation with an administrative claim, in which he challenged the order of President Vladimir Putin on organizing an all-Russian vote on amendments to the Constitution.

In 2020, Nikolai Rybakov and Yabloko's deputy chairman Ivan Bolshakov initiated a reform of the party, which allows democratization of party life and the involvement of party members in the decision-making process. During the second stage of the XXI Party Congress, amendments to the Party Charter were adopted.[9] Also, the majority of delegates expressed their confidence in Nikolai Rybakov.[10]

In March 2000 at the age of 21 was elected in the municipal council of the municipality Svetlanovskoe with the most votes among all candidates in all municipalities in Saint Petersburg. At the polling station closest to the home address of Nikolay Rybakov he received 54% of votes.[11] In December 2002 was running for the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg in Vyborgsky district under the block the SPS+Yabloko and came on the second place.[12]

In March 2004 was elected in the Municipal council of the municipality Grazhdanka (Kalininsky district, Saint Petersburg). Till December 2004 combined council work in two municipalities. On the elections in municipality Svetlanovskoe on 19 December 2004 received 75% of votes. However as a result of ballot stuffing in favor of the United Russia candidates was not acknowledged as an elected candidate. The procurator of Saint Petersburg initiated proceedings on electoral fraud but the investigation was not conducted properly and was closed.[13][14]

Was a candidate to the Legislative Assembly of Saint Petersburg in 2007 (Yabloko list was removed from elections due to its active position against construction of Okhta-Center) and in 2011 (Yabloko officially received 12.5% of votes). Participated in national elections as a candidate on the party list in 2007 and 2011.[15][16]

On the Yabloko General Assembly on 1–3 July 2016 was placed in the party list for the 2016 Russian legislative election on the seventh place in the national part of the list (10 candidates).[17] Also he was running for office in Central Saint Petersburg single-member constituency №216.[18] According to official data Rybakov received 13.98% of votes in the constituency (18974 votes, 4th place).[19] The Yabloko list received less than 5% (1,99 %, 1 051 335 votes)[20] and did not get any MPs in the 7th State Duma. Due to a lot of electoral frauds Yabloko did not acknowledge the results of elections and appealed to court.[21] However, the Supreme Court has denied the claim.[22]

On the regional elections on 18 September 2016 was the first in the Yabloko list for the Legislative Assembly of Leningrad Region.[23] Yabloko did not get any seats in the Assembly because according to the official data the party got less than 5% of votes (3.71%).[24]

In 2005 he became the author of the educational project "Remember Solovki", which is being implemented in educational institutions of St. Petersburg.[25] One of the organizers of mass actions against the construction of the Okhta Center skyscraper in the historic center of St. Petersburg. The author of the idea of the logo “Let's Save the Living Heart of St. Petersburg”. He was one of the applicants in the Smolninsky Court of St. Petersburg in the case of canceling the decision of the Government of St. Petersburg, which was allowed to build a Gazprom office with a height of more than 400 meters on the border of the historic city center.[26] Since 2011, he has been a member of the Human Rights Council of St. Petersburg. Since 2011 - a member of the public oversight commission for monitoring the provision of human rights in places of detention and assistance to persons in places of detention [64], member of the Board of the Center for Anti-Corruption Research and Initiatives "Transparency International - Russia". Since 2013 - member of the Advisory Council under the Commissioner for Human Rights in St. Petersburg. Since 2013 - Member of the Advisory Council under the Commissioner for Human Rights in St. Petersburg. Jury member of the All-Russian student competition "ECO-LAWYER".[27] From 2016 a participant of the Russian political TV shows. In 2020 - 2021 Nikolai Rybakov signed personal guarantees for the Ingush activist Zarifa Sautieva, journalist Иван Safronov, human rights activist Yuri Dmitriev, lawyer Ivan Pavlov.

In 2001-2003, Nikolai Rybakov taught the basics of law atschool No. 33 for hearing-impaired children in the Vyborgsky district of St. Petersburg.

Nikolai Rybakov gives environmental lectures for students of Russian universities, organized by the Bellona Environmental Human Rights Center Bellona – St. Petersburg. From 2016 to 2021 Rybakov gave lectures in Volgograd, Kaliningrad, Neftekamsk, Cheboksary, Makhachkala, Sterlitamak, Tyumen, Krasnoyarsk, Yekaterinburg, Moscow, Bryansk, Tomsk, Orel.

• History of the garden near the Silver pond (in Russian);
• The siege of Leningrad. 61 year after (in Russian);
• Remember Solovki. The book of impressions (in Russian);
• History of the Piskaryovski memorial (in Russian);
• How to write an appeal to authorities right (in Russian).