Russia's Supreme Court bars liberal Yabloko party from September Duma elections

Published Aug 10, 04:25 PM UTC

On August 10, 2026, Russia's Supreme Court, under Judge Vyacheslav Kirilov, granted a motion to bar the liberal opposition party Yabloko from participating in the Duma elections scheduled for September 18-20. The court cited numerous violations of electoral legislation, including alleged intellectual property rights infringement, campaign financing irregularities, and links to 'foreign agents' and the 'international LGBTQIA+ movement,' which is classified as extremist in Russia. The lawsuit was filed by the pro-Kremlin Rodina party. Yabloko is the only party advocating for an immediate end to Russia's war against Ukraine. The ruling follows a pattern of suppression of opposition figures, including the earlier dissolution of the Party of Civic Initiative and the jailing of presidential candidate Boris Nadezhdin. Yabloko supporters, numbering around 500, gathered outside the court in Moscow to protest the decision. The party had already faced regional bans and criminal prosecutions of its candidates.

Content shown outside its original language is machine translated and condensed.