Right-wingers fail to unite with Yabloko

The Union of Right Forces (SPS) will seek unification of all democratic forcers in Russia, though without the Yabloko party and its leader Grigory Yavlinsky, SPS co-chairman Anatoly Chubais said.

He did not name the forces with which the SPS is going to join hands, but said only that "the democratic front is not limited to Yabloko and Yavlinsky."

"We have serious ideas on that score, but just because they are serious we shall not make them public for the time being," he said.

Chubais said that his proposal to Yavlinsky to "rise above personal ambitions and start unification with the democratic forces" remained unanswered and he regarded this as refusal.

"We waited for a week, and a week is a long time, as time is precious now. We did not get a clear and straightforward answer from Yavlinsky, which means we received a refusal," Chubais said.

He reproached Yavlinsky, saying that "there is nothing higher for him than party and personal interests" and called his position "strikingly short-sighted."

"Having refused to cooperate, Yavlinsky killed the idea of nominating a single candidate from the democratic forces at the next presidential elections," Chubais said.