Russia: Yabloko party barred from parliamentary elections following Supreme Court ruling

Russia's Supreme Court on Monday upheld the exclusion of the pacifist opposition party Yabloko from the parliamentary elections scheduled for September 18-20. The decision, handed down after a nine-hour hearing, deprives the party's candidates of any right to participate in the vote.

The hammer blow came from Judge Vyacheslav Kirillov, the same magistrate who, in April, banned the Russian human rights organization Memorial and labeled it an extremist organization. He was the one who upheld the verdict validating the complaint filed by Rodina, a pro-Kremlin party, against Yabloko. Rodina accused the opposition movement of copyright infringement in its campaign materials, of engaging in extremist activities, and of receiving illegal funding from abroad.

Outside the Supreme Court building, at least 500 people had gathered to demonstrate their support for the party. They were handing out apples and singing, a reference to the name Yabloko, which means "apple" in Russian and comes from the initials of the movement's three founders: Grigory Yavlinsky, Yuri Boldyrev, and Vladimir Lukin. At the end of the hearing, security forces threatened the demonstrators with arrest and warned the young men present that they could be taken to military recruitment offices.

The party chairman, Nikolai Rybakov, announced his intention to appeal. "You are mistaken if you believe that a stroke of the pen can erase millions of people who want peace, freedom, and a normal future for their country," he wrote on Telegram. Grigory Yavlinsky, one of the party's founders, believes the authorities fear the party's platform, which calls for elections "for peace, freedom, and a life without fear."

From abroad, several figures in the Russian opposition had called for support for Yabloko before the verdict. Among them were Yulia Navalnaya, widow of Alexei Navalny and head of the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), as well as Lyuboy Sobol, Ilya Yashin, and Andrei Pivovarov. Navalnaya stated that the Kremlin had initially planned to allow Yabloko to participate in the elections, but that the leadership had become frightened when they saw people beginning to rally around the party.

Pivovarov, coordinator of the Russian Anti-War Committee from his exile in Germany, clarified that the opposition's goal was not to hope for rapid political change, but to make visible the extent of anti-war sentiment in Russia. "There would have been a dozen pro-war parties on the ballot, and only one for peace. The war would not have ended even if Yabloko had won seats in the Duma. But we would have seen that many Russians oppose the war," he said.

Political scientist Ivan Preobrazhenskaya suggests that the ban could be the result of a power struggle within the Kremlin, between the security bloc linked to the FSB and the entourage of Sergei Kiriyenko, First Deputy Director of the Presidential Administration. Another political scientist, Mikhail Vinogradov, offers a different interpretation: if Yabloko had received a very low score, the Kremlin could have presented this as proof of widespread public support for the war.

The party's exclusion also complicates independent election monitoring. Yabloko is no longer allowed to send representatives to polling stations, whereas it had previously facilitated access for independent observers.

The Duma elections are taking place against a backdrop of rising tension. Margarita Zavadskaya, a researcher at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, cites data from the Russian Public Opinion Fund (POF): at the end of July, 57% of respondents said they were worried, the highest level since the mobilizations of autumn 2022. She attributes this anxiety to the increase in drone attacks, fires in warehouses, and rumors of a new wave of protests. "For the Kremlin, the ideal scenario would be a boring election with low turnout and no noteworthy events," she summarizes. "But that seems unlikely at the moment."