Moscow Court Bars Yabloko from Upcoming Parliamentary Election

A Moscow court has prohibited Yabloko, the only liberal party in Russia that opposes the war in Ukraine, from participating in the parliamentary elections scheduled for next month. The decision follows a lawsuit filed by the pro-government Rodina party, which accused Yabloko of supporting an extremist organization by publishing material related to the "international LGBT movement," designated extremist by the Supreme Court in 2023, and of copyright infringement for quoting a Soviet-era song.

During the eight-hour hearing, Russia's financial monitoring service alleged that Yabloko received foreign funding through third parties, including from Germany and the United States. Several senior members of Yabloko had already been barred from running, including deputy chairmen and deputy leader Maxim Kruglov, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for social-media posts about civilian casualties in Ukrainian cities.

Hundreds of supporters, many of them young, gathered outside the courthouse, singing, waving flags and carrying apples as a symbol of the party. The crowd chanted slogans such as "For Yabloko. For freedom" and wrote messages in chalk on the pavement.

Yabloko, founded by former presidential candidate Grigory Yavlinsky, has consistently opposed Russia's military actions in Chechnya, the 2014 annexation of Crimea, and the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. The party campaigned on a platform calling for a ceasefire, diplomacy and a Russia free from fear and political repression. The Central Electoral Commission had initially seemed inclined to allow the party on the ballot, but the court’s ruling effectively removes the only organized anti-war voice from the election, leaving the remaining ten parties either supportive of the war or silent on the issue.