Russia bars Yabloko from elections after anti-war slogan boosts its support

Russia's Central Election Commission registered 11 parties on July 30 to compete in the September 20 State Duma elections, though as usual only four or five are expected to actually win seats, led by United Russia. Among the parties that have failed to enter parliament for nearly two decades is Yabloko, a liberal party founded in 1993.

This time, Yabloko ran under the slogan "For peace and freedom!" — words considered marginal in today's Russia. Presidential administration official Sergei Kiriyenko reportedly expected the party would again draw only two to three percent support, fail to enter parliament, and thereby demonstrate how few anti-war citizens actually exist.

Instead, within a week of registration, Yabloko's support rose from three to seven percent, with a month and a half still remaining before the vote — an unexpected trend that alarmed officials.

A swift response

On August 7, Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) filed a lawsuit with the Supreme Court seeking to remove Yabloko from the race. The suit was brought by State Duma deputy Alexei Zhuravlyov of the Rodina party, who accused Yabloko of extremism, foreign funding, and even copyright infringement over a campaign poster depicting a nuclear explosion.

Despite the questionable reasoning behind the accusations, the Supreme Court ruled on August 10 to remove Yabloko from the elections — reportedly the first time in Russian history a party was banned just ten days after being cleared to run.

The following Monday, several hundred young Yabloko supporters gathered outside the Supreme Court in Moscow — a notable turnout in a country where unsanctioned public gatherings are effectively banned. The episode is seen as evidence that Russian authorities remain uncertain about, and unwilling to confront, how much of the public actually wants the war to end.