Russia's Supreme Court Bars Yabloko Anti War Party from Parliamentary Elections
12 sources across 9 countries · 1 of them is linked to a state
Who reported this
- Der Spiegel
- Deutsche Welle
- Frankfurter Allgemeine
- Meduza
- Novaya Gazeta Europe
- Folha de S.Paulo
- South China Morning Post
- Telex
- Al Jazeera
- Business Day
- Kyiv Independent
- Reuters
What the colours mean
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- Centre-left
- Centre
- Centre-right
- Right
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Russia's Supreme Court on Monday barred the liberal Yabloko party from participating in the parliamentary elections scheduled for September. The ruling follows a lawsuit filed by the nationalist pro Kremlin party Rodina. Yabloko was the only officially registered party in Russia that campaigned on a platform calling for an immediate ceasefire and the end of the war in Ukraine. The party's platform, described as one of the shortest in its history, used the slogan: For Peace and Freedom! For a Life Without Fear!
Rodina alleged that Yabloko violated campaign financing laws and received undeclared support from Western sources. Other accusations included copyright violations for using Soviet songs and images, as well as the use of an AI generated image from ChatGPT. Yabloko leader Nikolai Rybakov denied these allegations, calling the case an unconstitutional attack on freedom of thought. The party announced its intention to appeal the decision.
Following the ruling, several hundred supporters, many of them young people, gathered outside the court in Moscow. Many carried apples, which are the symbol of the party. Some witnesses reported that police dispersed the crowd by threatening them with forced enlistment to fight in Ukraine.
While Yabloko has not won a seat in the federal State Duma since 2003, recent reports indicate a surge in interest. Some sources state the party was polling around 3 percent, while others suggest it reached as high as 5 or 6 percent. The party also received public support from exiled opposition figures, including Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny.
Outlets with different political leanings interpreted the Kremlin's motives differently. Center left sources framed the initial registration of Yabloko as a strategic move by the Kremlin to bleed protest votes or act as a safety valve for public dissatisfaction before the party's polling became too high. Center and center right sources focused on the decision as a consolidation of political repression and a narrowing of the space for legal dissent in Russia.
How each side framed it
- Centre-left
- Suggested the Kremlin initially allowed the party to run to manage protest votes before removing them as polling rose.
- Centre
- Framed the event as a consolidation of political repression and the removal of the last legal anti war voice.
- Centre-right
- Highlighted the move as a sign of the authorities' intolerance of anti war views and the narrowing of political space.
Sources
- Centre-left Al Jazeera: Russia bars only party opposing war in Ukraine from parliamentary vote
- Centre-right Business Day: Russian court bars only party opposing Ukraine conflict from ballot
- Centre-left Der Spiegel: Russia: Supreme Court excludes anti war party Yabloko from election
- Centre Deutsche Welle: Russia: Top court bans opposition anti-war party from vote
- Centre Folha de S.Paulo: Russia bans last anti war party from election
- Centre-right Frankfurter Allgemeine: Before Duma election in Russia: An apple as a symbol of resistance
- Centre Kyiv Independent: Russia's Supreme Court bars only 'pro-peace' party from parliamentary elections
- Centre Kyiv Independent: Russian anti-war opposition had a 5-day run
- Centre-left Meduza: ‘The funds came from Russian citizens, not from abroad’: Yabloko’s lawyer answers a classified foreign-funding dossier used to try to knock the antiwar party off the ballot
- Centre-left Meduza: Russia’s parliamentary race loses antiwar party that attracted young volunteers ‘because they don’t want to be killed’ in Ukraine, chairman said
- Centre-left Meduza: Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya urges Russians to vote for any party except United Russia in State Duma election
- Centre-left Meduza: A ChatGPT-generated image, a photo of Hiroshima, and a line from a Soviet song: the copyright case that helped boot Russia’s only antiwar party off next month’s ballot
- Centre-left Meduza: Russia’s Supreme Court removes nation’s only antiwar party from upcoming parliamentary race
- Centre-left Meduza: The Kremlin let Russia’s only anti-war party, Yabloko, onto the ballot to bleed protest votes. But when it started polling at 6%, the Supreme Court stepped in.
- Centre-left Meduza: After courts banned an antiwar party from the ballot, opposition politician Ilya Yashin’s allies pick a new weapon: showing up to vote, all at the exact same minute
- Centre-left Meduza: Yabloko chairman Yavlinsky says barring the party from Russia’s parliamentary race means the Kremlin admits its fear
- Centre-left Novaya Gazeta Europe: "Could have come up with a less ridiculous reason"
- Centre-left Novaya Gazeta Europe: Supreme Court removed Yabloko from State Duma elections
- Centre-left Novaya Gazeta Europe: Without a vote "for peace"
- Centre-left Novaya Gazeta Europe: "May there always be sunshine," an AI image and 16,900 rubles from abroad
- Centre Reuters: Russia's top court bars anti-war party from parliamentary vote - Reuters
- Centre-right South China Morning Post: Russia bars anti-war party from parliamentary election
- Centre Telex: The list of the only Russian peace party cannot run in the election
100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.