Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov

Russia’s only registered liberal party to openly oppose the war in Ukraine has been barred from next month’s parliamentary elections. A Moscow court ruled against Yabloko after a case brought by the pro-Kremlin nationalist Rodina party, shutting an anti-war voice out of the ballot.

Eight hours of tension ends in a crushing verdict

Hundreds gathered outside the Moscow courthouse as the hearing dragged on for eight hours. Mostly young supporters sang songs, waved flags and carried apples — a symbol of Yabloko — before erupting into chants of “Shame! Shame!” when the verdict emerged.

The case accused Yabloko of supporting an extremist organisation through material on its website concerning the “international LGBT movement”, which Russia’s Supreme Court designated extremist in 2023. Rodina also alleged copyright infringement over a party member quoting lyrics from a Soviet-era song.

The pressure had already been building

Russia’s financial monitoring service separately claimed Yabloko received money through third parties from foreign countries including Germany and the United States. The Kremlin-controlled Central Electoral Commission had approved the party’s candidate list in July, but several senior figures had already been prevented from standing.

Among them was deputy leader Maxim Kruglov, sentenced in June to seven years in prison over social media posts concerning civilian casualties in Ukrainian cities including Bucha and Mariupol. Yabloko was also hit by a cyberattack after launching a campaign fundraising appeal.

Russia’s last anti-war ballot option disappears

Yabloko has not won seats in the State Duma since 2003, but has contested every election since. It has consistently opposed Moscow’s wars, including the Chechen conflict, the annexation of Crimea and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Its exclusion means the other parties on the ballot either support the war or avoid openly challenging it. With independent election monitoring heavily restricted, the Kremlin faces little organised anti-war opposition inside the electoral system.

A weaker opposition could serve the Kremlin

Yabloko had campaigned on “peace and freedom”, calling for a ceasefire, diplomacy and an end to political repression. Its removal could also affect turnout, particularly among voters seeking an explicit anti-war alternative.

The decision comes as Russia faces economic pressure, inflation, internet blackouts and drone attacks. Even if public dissatisfaction is growing, the Kremlin retains extensive political and electoral machinery to shape the final result.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy9w1l5jr7lo

Edited August 11Aug 11 by bannork

3 hours ago, bannork said:

Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov

Russia’s only registered liberal party to openly oppose the war in Ukraine has been barred from next month’s parliamentary elections. A Moscow court ruled against Yabloko after a case brought by the pro-Kremlin nationalist Rodina party, shutting an anti-war voice out of the ballot.

Eight hours of tension ends in a crushing verdict

Hundreds gathered outside the Moscow courthouse as the hearing dragged on for eight hours. Mostly young supporters sang songs, waved flags and carried apples — a symbol of Yabloko — before erupting into chants of “Shame! Shame!” when the verdict emerged.

The case accused Yabloko of supporting an extremist organisation through material on its website concerning the “international LGBT movement”, which Russia’s Supreme Court designated extremist in 2023. Rodina also alleged copyright infringement over a party member quoting lyrics from a Soviet-era song.

The pressure had already been building

Russia’s financial monitoring service separately claimed Yabloko received money through third parties from foreign countries including Germany and the United States. The Kremlin-controlled Central Electoral Commission had approved the party’s candidate list in July, but several senior figures had already been prevented from standing.

Among them was deputy leader Maxim Kruglov, sentenced in June to seven years in prison over social media posts concerning civilian casualties in Ukrainian cities including Bucha and Mariupol. Yabloko was also hit by a cyberattack after launching a campaign fundraising appeal.

Russia’s last anti-war ballot option disappears

Yabloko has not won seats in the State Duma since 2003, but has contested every election since. It has consistently opposed Moscow’s wars, including the Chechen conflict, the annexation of Crimea and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Its exclusion means the other parties on the ballot either support the war or avoid openly challenging it. With independent election monitoring heavily restricted, the Kremlin faces little organised anti-war opposition inside the electoral system.

A weaker opposition could serve the Kremlin

Yabloko had campaigned on “peace and freedom”, calling for a ceasefire, diplomacy and an end to political repression. Its removal could also affect turnout, particularly among voters seeking an explicit anti-war alternative.

The decision comes as Russia faces economic pressure, inflation, internet blackouts and drone attacks. Even if public dissatisfaction is growing, the Kremlin retains extensive political and electoral machinery to shape the final result.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy9w1l5jr7lo

Navalnaya: The Kremlin is afraid of the election.

Russian opposition figure Yulia Navalnaya has described the exclusion of the liberal Yabloko party from September's parliamentary election as a sign that the Kremlin fears opponents of the war.

The Kremlin has realized that people in Russia have begun to unite, says the widow of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny - one of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin's fiercest critics - who was tormented to death in a penal colony.

3 hours ago, bannork said:

Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov

Russia’s only registered liberal party to openly oppose the war in Ukraine has been barred from next month’s parliamentary elections. A Moscow court ruled against Yabloko after a case brought by the pro-Kremlin nationalist Rodina party, shutting an anti-war voice out of the ballot.

Eight hours of tension ends in a crushing verdict

Hundreds gathered outside the Moscow courthouse as the hearing dragged on for eight hours. Mostly young supporters sang songs, waved flags and carried apples — a symbol of Yabloko — before erupting into chants of “Shame! Shame!” when the verdict emerged.

The case accused Yabloko of supporting an extremist organisation through material on its website concerning the “international LGBT movement”, which Russia’s Supreme Court designated extremist in 2023. Rodina also alleged copyright infringement over a party member quoting lyrics from a Soviet-era song.

The pressure had already been building

Russia’s financial monitoring service separately claimed Yabloko received money through third parties from foreign countries including Germany and the United States. The Kremlin-controlled Central Electoral Commission had approved the party’s candidate list in July, but several senior figures had already been prevented from standing.

Among them was deputy leader Maxim Kruglov, sentenced in June to seven years in prison over social media posts concerning civilian casualties in Ukrainian cities including Bucha and Mariupol. Yabloko was also hit by a cyberattack after launching a campaign fundraising appeal.

Russia’s last anti-war ballot option disappears

Yabloko has not won seats in the State Duma since 2003, but has contested every election since. It has consistently opposed Moscow’s wars, including the Chechen conflict, the annexation of Crimea and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Its exclusion means the other parties on the ballot either support the war or avoid openly challenging it. With independent election monitoring heavily restricted, the Kremlin faces little organised anti-war opposition inside the electoral system.

A weaker opposition could serve the Kremlin

Yabloko had campaigned on “peace and freedom”, calling for a ceasefire, diplomacy and an end to political repression. Its removal could also affect turnout, particularly among voters seeking an explicit anti-war alternative.

The decision comes as Russia faces economic pressure, inflation, internet blackouts and drone attacks. Even if public dissatisfaction is growing, the Kremlin retains extensive political and electoral machinery to shape the final result.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy9w1l5jr7lo

surprised the guy still alive, we all know what happened to any opposition in Putin Russia

4 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

surprised the guy still alive, we all know what happened to any opposition in Putin Russia

Yes, and he even topped it:

"You are mistaken if you believe that, with the stroke of a pen, you can write off millions of people who want peace, freedom, and a normal future for their country," writes Yabloko leader Nikolai Rybakov in a Telegram message to the Russian authority.

7 minutes ago, Schoggibueb said:

Yes, and he even topped it:

"You are mistaken if you believe that, with the stroke of a pen, you can write off millions of people who want peace, freedom, and a normal future for their country," writes Yabloko leader Nikolai Rybakov in a Telegram message to the Russian authority.

Come to the Russian Embassy on election day. You'll see thousands of people standing in a four-hour line waving flags with the Z symbol and shouting slogans in support of the national leader's party. If you suddenly feel afraid and need to poop, it's in the restaurant across the street. There, you can use the yellow-and-blue flag if you brought one.

8 minutes ago, zmisha said:

You'll see thousands of people standing in a four-hour line waving flags with the Z symbol and shouting slogans

Your propaganda might work in Russia.

But depending what country you are talking about, let's have a look at Germany (yes, I know, they are enemies for the Kremlin)...

Endorsement of criminal offenses (Section 140 of the German Criminal Code):

Public use of the “Z” symbol in a manner understood as support for or endorsement of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine—which violates international law—is a criminal offense.

You should once get out of St. Petersburg, the world outside of Russia is quite different.

11 minutes ago, Schoggibueb said:

Public use of the “Z” symbol in a manner understood as support for or endorsement of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine—which violates international law—is a criminal offense.

Wow that says a lot about how utterly corrupt and weak minded these bureaucracies have become so afraid of a "Z" symbol as to deem it a criminal offence,total lunacy !!

This is what the maga fascists want for the USA.

The end of real elections.

Consider yourself warned.

35 minutes ago, Schoggibueb said:

Your propaganda might work in Russia.

But depending what country you are talking about, let's have a look at Germany (yes, I know, they are enemies for the Kremlin)...

Endorsement of criminal offenses (Section 140 of the German Criminal Code):

Public use of the “Z” symbol in a manner understood as support for or endorsement of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine—which violates international law—is a criminal offense.

You should once get out of St. Petersburg, the world outside of Russia is quite different.

But before you mentioned "millions of people who want peace, freedom, and a normal future for their country,". If millions of people support "freedom" (in the sense of capitulation) - then why persecute people with the Z symbol?

17 minutes ago, zmisha said:

then why persecute people with the Z symbol?

The Swastika is equalized to the Z-Symbol.

So nowdays the Nazis sit in Moscow.

1 hour ago, Schoggibueb said:

Endorsement of criminal offenses (Section 140 of the German Criminal Code):

Public use of the “Z” symbol in a manner understood as support for or endorsement of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine—which violates international law—is a criminal offense.

To be fair Germany has a habit of making everything illegal, especially symbols. I once was horrified to see a report that far right hate crimes had risen in Germany by 280%, once I read it in more detail it turned out the reason was because German authorities counted instances were school kids had scrawled swastikas somewhere as a "far right hate crime".

We all know that governments routinely use this strategy, make everything illegal and then you can choose what you can prosecute, but Germany takes it too far.

Edited August 11Aug 11 by Cameroni

Russia copying the American lefts playbook. Remember when a deranged political party tried to jail the countries most popular politician on a coordinated raft of BS charges? They knew (correctly for once) that if he was allowed to run in an election against their DEI candidate it would be disasterous for them. And it was.

I hope none of these aforementioned deranged lawfarist supporters are going to pop up here acting outraged at the notion of some foreign country doing a much less egregious act. But Ill bet they will. Cos thats just how they roll🤣

Edited August 11Aug 11 by SunnyinBangrak

30 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

This is what the maga fascists want for the USA.

The end of real elections.

Consider yourself warned.

you mean the cause you work for daily?

1 hour ago, zmisha said:

Come to the Russian Embassy on election day. You'll see thousands of people standing in a four-hour line waving flags with the Z symbol and shouting slogans in support of the national leader's party. If you suddenly feel afraid and need to poop, it's in the restaurant across the street. There, you can use the yellow-and-blue flag if you brought one.

if you arent a troll, then i would just respond that any that waves the flag for your scumbag government is a scumbag too. you guys are an annoyance to the world and have been since peter.

2 minutes ago, Cameroni said:

To be fair Germany has a habit of making everything illegal, especially symbols. I once was horrified to see a report that far right hate crimes had risen in Germany by 280%, once I read it in more detail it turned out the reason was because German authorities counted instances were school kids had scrawled swastikas somewhere as a "far right hate crime".

We all know that governments routinely use this strategy, make everything illegal and then you can choose what you can prosecute, but Germany takes it too far.

germany is neo nazi. despite the fact that they are armed by israel

1 minute ago, Yagoda said:

germany is neo nazi. despite the fact that they are armed by israel

Germany is very much a socialist country. To the core. Leftist to the extreme, one Green politician once proposed legalising pedophilia.

You are right on one thing though, the erstwhile powerhouse of submarine and tank production is now increasingly intertwined with Israel's arms industry, buying a significant amount of Israeli weapons systems

Putin's Z fascists are the Nazi types in this current war.

But their propagandists try to sell the opposite.

Yeah Germany understandably bans expression of Naziism and it is correct to see Putin's Z fascists as similar, but i would agree banning expressions of support for Z fascism is taking it too far, free speech-wise.

But Germany is a sovereign country and that should be respected as well.

15 minutes ago, Yagoda said:

you mean the cause you work for daily?

That's what the maga fascists do.

They turn what they are doing around in to an accusation.

Trump is a moron but he may be the most talented con man in history.

6 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

That's what the maga fascists do.

They turn what they are doing around in to an accusation.

Trump is a moron but he may be the most talented con man in history.

maga doesnt enforce ideology like your lot

To be anti-war in Russia is thus forbidden.

How frightened Putin must be of his own people.

3 hours ago, bannork said:

To be anti-war in Russia is thus forbidden.

How frightened Putin must be of his own people.

Perfectly normal. Every country at war censors.