On 10 August, the Russian Supreme Court disqualified the Yabloko party from the State Duma elections scheduled for 20 September. Judge Vyacheslav Kirillov upheld a claim brought by lawyers representing the Rodina party. The Yabloko party has stated that it will appeal the decision.
Yabloko is the only party among those originally included on the ballot paper that advocates for a swift end to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The lawsuit to remove Yabloko from the ballot was filed by the Rodina party. The plaintiffs justified their claims by arguing that the party infringes copyright in its campaign material and uses ‘extremist’ slogans.
During the hearing, a representative of the Central Election Commission also cited data from Rosfinmonitoring indicating that Yabloko receives foreign funding. Yabloko itself explained this as the sale of foreign shares, which the party is required by law to dispose of before the elections.