Yabloko barred from Russia's parliamentary ballot by Supreme Court

How the ban unfolded

Russia's highest court on Monday ordered the only party opposing the Kremlin's military action in Ukraine to be removed from the ballot in next month's parliamentary election. The Central Election Commission had initially allowed Yabloko on the ballot along with 10 other parties. Less than a month later, a lawsuit brought by a nationalist faction set the Supreme Court in motion. After a seven-hour hearing, the court ruled that Yabloko’s registration was invalid and stripped the party of its place on the ballot for the Sept. 18-20 election.

Sources name different plaintiffs behind the legal challenge. CBC reports that the Motherland Party filed the lawsuit, accusing Yabloko of copyright infringement and exceeding campaign spending limits. Yahoo notes that the pro-Kremlin party Rodina brought the case, levelling similar charges and adding alleged use of international LGBT material and images generated by ChatGPT.

Media additions

Yabloko’s chairman, Nikolai Rybakov, sat in the courtroom Monday. He stated that the party would appeal the ruling. Rybakov said, We have a long way ahead, and we have a big and important task: to stop deaths and bring peace back. Everything we do should be dedicated to that.

A crowd of supporters greeted Yabloko’s representatives with applause as they entered the courthouse in central Moscow, and outside, hundreds of protesters, many of them young people, had gathered to support Yabloko – some carrying apples and chanting: Shame! Shame! before an officer using a loudhailer told the crowd to leave.

Yabloko’s anti-war stand

Since the early 1990s, Yabloko has been a liberal voice in Russian politics. The party opposed Russia's war on Chechnya and the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and, more recently, the invasion of Ukraine. Its campaign slogans this cycle included For a ceasefire agreement, diplomacy and peace!, Our goal is to prevent nuclear war!, and For a Russia free from fear and political repressions! — language that set it apart as the only registered opposition party that opposed sending troops into Ukraine.

In the run-up to the vote, independent polling put Yabloko at 5.5 percent nationwide and 11 percent in Moscow, a surge that could have threatened United Russia’s dominance. Yahoo notes that United Russia’s approval fell to about 33 percent, while a Levada Centre poll found roughly two-thirds of Russians believing the country should negotiate an end to the war, even as more than 70 percent still approved of the military’s actions.

Legal accusations

Rodina’s complaint, as detailed by Yahoo, listed a litany of alleged offences: support for the international LGBT movement, copyright infringement for quoting Soviet-era song lyrics, unauthorized use of a photograph of the Hiroshima atomic bombing, and the use of images generated by ChatGPT. The filing also claimed Yabloko had discredited the armed forces.

CBC’s account of the Motherland Party’s lawsuit echoes the copyright and finance accusations, and adds that the party’s stance on Ukraine was unlawful and tantamount to calling for the violation of Russia's territorial integrity.

CEC officials, according to Yahoo, said they found evidence of foreign funding for Yabloko candidates in 2025, a claim Yabloko’s lawyers rejected.

Reactions from the political establishment

Kremlin-aligned figures seized on the ruling. Sergei Mironov, head of A Just Russia, urged the Prosecutor General and Justice Ministry to look closely at Yabloko.

"A party that openly opposes the special military operation, promises a shameful peace, and supports foreign agents is running for the State Duma."

Sergei Mironov, head of A Just Russia Party, via CBC

Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov said Yabloko is not supporting President Vladimir Putin’s policies and has not helped "those suffering, those fighting on the front line."

Veteran liberal Grigory Yavlinsky, who co-founded Yabloko, issued an online statement condemning the decision.

"Barring Yabloko from the election means a refusal to engage in dialogue with those who ask questions that make the authorities uncomfortable,"

Grigory Yavlinsky, co-founder of Yabloko, via CBC

"The public demand for peace and freedom today has proven far stronger than the authorities anticipated."

Grigory Yavlinsky, via CBC

Research fellow Nikolay Petrov of the NEST Centre, quoted by CBC, suggested the Kremlin may have initially allowed Yabloko on the ballot to give Russians an outlet for their discontent while also showing that few people support its stand on Ukraine, then reversed course when the party’s popularity threatened its calculations.

Opposition and exile voices

Exiled opposition figures rallied behind Yabloko prior to the court decision. Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexei Navalny, stated on Telegram that supporting the party was morally and politically right. Rybakov sought to distance the party from unwarranted support from Navalnaya and other Kremlin foes living abroad in an apparent attempt to prevent its removal from the ballot.