Russia's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from the Yabloko party, the opposition party opposing Russia's military campaign in Ukraine, against an earlier ruling banning it from participating in parliamentary elections scheduled for September. The party confirmed the news on Monday (August 10), adding that it would seek supervisory review from the authorities.
Accordingly, the Supreme Court's Appeals Chamber upheld the decision to cancel the registration of Yabloko's federal candidate list for the State Duma (Russia's lower house) elections. This ruling means Yabloko – the only legally registered political party calling for an end to the conflict in Ukraine – will not appear on the ballot.
The case was initiated by the Rodina party, a small nationalist party supportive of the Kremlin. Rodina accused Yabloko of being backed by Western countries and seeking to undermine the electoral process and Russia itself. Yabloko dismissed these allegations, asserting that the party represents the views of millions of Russians and that the ban deprives those opposed to the war of their only choice.
On the same day, another court in Russia sentenced Yabloko's deputy chairman, Lev Shlosberg, to 11 years and 1 month in a penal colony for opposing the military campaign in Ukraine. Shlosberg was found guilty of damaging the reputation of the Russian armed forces and deliberately spreading false information about them.
The verdict was handed down under legislation enacted after Russia launched its full-scale military campaign in Ukraine in February 2022. This law allows for lengthy sentences for those convicted of “discrediting” the military or intentionally spreading misinformation about the war. Since then, few groups have openly criticized the conflict, but some individuals such as Shlosberg, human rights activist Oleg Orlov, and late opposition leader Alexei Navalny have spoken out against “tyranny and repression” without any realistic chance of acquittal.
In his closing statement at the trial, Shlosberg called the war a catastrophe for Russia. “The lives of countless people have been cut short during this time. Sooner or later, the exact and complete casualty figures – with names – will be published, and the whole nation will shudder at this list of martyrs,” he said.
According to activists, police detained dozens of supporters and journalists who came to hear the sentencing, taking some to police stations. Kirill Goncharov, head of Yabloko's Moscow branch, said many people were detained during the day and that police were very tense. Party leader Nikolay Rybakov called the arrests an act of “intimidation.”
