Youth crowd gathers outside Moscow Supreme Court as Yabloko loses ballot registration
Hundreds of mostly teenage supporters of the anti-war Yabloko party waited outside the Supreme Court in Moscow on Aug. 10 while the court ruled to bar the party from the State Duma ballot, prompting a calm but deflated departure.
On August 10, Russia’s Supreme Court heard a lawsuit filed by the Rodina party seeking to revoke the registration of Yabloko, the only opposition party that has taken an anti-war stance and could theoretically run in the upcoming State Duma elections. The hearing, which began at 10 a.m. and lasted most of the day, ended with the court ordering Yabloko’s exclusion from the ballot.
Around 500 supporters, most of them Muscovites under 30 and many teenagers, gathered outside the courthouse on Povarskaya Street. They passed apples, wore party-logo T-shirts and peace-symbol accessories, and streamed the proceedings on their phones. Security forces, including ordinary police, OMON riot units and National Guard troops, were present but did not disperse the crowd until the verdict was announced.
Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov addressed the court, arguing that the Central Election Commission had found no violations in the party’s paperwork and that the accusations – copyright infringement, foreign financing, online campaigning and alleged extremism – were unfounded. He described the plaintiff’s evidence as “personal fabrications” and “absurd notions.”
When the judge announced that Yabloko would be barred, the crowd reacted with a mixture of anger and resignation, chanting “Shame!” and “Yabloko.” Police used megaphones to demand dispersal, warning that “young men” could be taken to draft offices. Rybakov urged supporters to leave calmly and offered to escort them to the subway, where the gathering eventually dispersed.
The event marked a first public protest for many of the young attendees, some of whom are not yet eligible to vote in the September election. Their presence highlighted a growing, though limited, willingness among Russia’s youth to publicly support opposition candidates despite the risk of police pressure.