Reuters. Russia's Supreme Court on Monday (August 10) barred the liberal Yabloko party from contesting September's parliamentary elections, sidelining the only officially registered party that opposes Moscow's war in Ukraine.
More than four years after Russia launched its full-scale war in Ukraine, the decision highlights the authorities' intolerance of anti-war views and further narrows the already limited space for dissent in Russian politics.
The court ruled in favor of a lawsuit filed by the small pro-Kremlin nationalist party Rodina, which sought Yabloko's exclusion from the election. Rodina alleged that Yabloko had received undeclared campaign support, including from Western sources, among other accusations.
During a day-long hearing, Rybakov said there was no evidence to support the allegations and described the case as an unconstitutional attack on freedom of thought by political opponents seeking to clear the field of rivals.
In a rare show of defiance, a few hundred — mostly young — supporters gathered outside the court as police stood by. Some carried apples to display their affiliation to Yabloko, which means apple in Russian. One wore a Russian flag as a cape.
Once a leading liberal force in post-Soviet Russia, Yabloko now has only a handful of regional seats and none in the national parliament, where Putin-backed United Russia and other broadly pro-Kremlin parties are set to retain their dominance after September’s vote.
But the election campaign provided Yabloko with a platform to grab more attention than usual for its call for Russia to sign a ceasefire agreement — something the Kremlin has repeatedly ruled out saying it wants an overall deal that meets its own conditions.
Outside the court, supporter Yevgeniya said she felt duty-bound to turn out. "We think it's essential we show that there are lots of us, that we're united in our support for this party, because we all want peace."
