Is
Modernisation in Russia Possible? Interview
with Grigory Yavlinsky and Boris Titov by Yury Pronko,
"The Real Time" programme, Radio Finam, May
12, 2010
Photo: Alexei Arbatov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
On 10 June, Yabloko’s central office will host a lecture by Alexei Arbatov, one of the world’s leading experts on nuclear deterrence and arms control. The lecture is entitled ‘The Crisis of Nuclear Arms Control’.
Alexei Arbatov is Head of the Centre International Security of the Institute of World Economy and International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences, a member of Yabloko’s Federal Political Committee, and one of Russia’s foremost experts on arms control.
Photo: A screenshot from Nikolai Rybakov’s video on VKontakte
“496,000 ROUBLES. That is the amount we need to raise to cover lawyers’ fees for May,” Yabloko Chairman wrote on his Telegram channel on 2 June 2026.
“As you know, repression in the country is growing with every passing day — and it is affecting our friends and colleagues, members of the Yabloko party. Right now, six of our comrades are in detention. Administrative proceedings are under way against a number of Yabloko members. For what? For their convictions. For refusing to accept the actions of the authorities and what is happening in our country. Our colleagues who have come under pressure need good lawyers. But we cannot manage without you,” Rybakov addressed Russian citizens.
Photo: A Yabloko protest action “Stop removing us from elections!” in 2010 outside the Central Electoral Commission building / Photo by Vasily Shaposhnikov, Kommersant
The Yabloko faction in the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly has prepared a draft federal initiative to repeal an unjust ban on electoral participation. Under current law, a person fined for the “demonstration of extremist symbols”, including for publications in the Internet, loses the right to stand as a candidate for one year.
Photo: Alexander Sogomonov / Photo by the Yabloko Party University
On 9 June, The Yabloko Party University invites all those interested to a lecture by Alexander Sogomonov, Candidate of Historical Sciences and sociologist: “The world in the second quarter of the 21st century: how new ‘generations’ and demographic shifts will affect the values, education, and culture of the near future?”.
Photo: Nikolai Rybakov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The complaint filed by Yabloko party Chairman Nikolai Rybakov in the case concerning the “demonstration of extremist symbols and insignia” has been registered at the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. For a post expressing condolences to the family of Alexei Navalny, who died in prison, the Yabloko leader was fined 1,500 roubles and stripped of the right to stand in elections for one year.
Photo: Viktor Kogan-Yasny / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
There is such a thing as a politics of vengeance, and there is such a thing as a politics of hope. A politics of vengeance is built on powerful, demonic motivation and energy, and for that reason has tactical chances of achieving its aims. Since there is no good in it, tactical advancement is followed either by ever new phases of vengeance, or by chaos, or by both together. Destruction and loss, and the self-interest of those who extract personal or corporate gain from it — but that, too, is short-sighted and holds no prospects.
On 20 September 2026, Russia will hold elections to the State Duma, heads of regions, and legislative assemblies. We use the word “elections”, yet any clear-headed person will surely understand that our elections today — like the political process in our country as a whole — bear little resemblance to the hopes once placed in them, at the dawn of the new Russia.
Photo: Lev Shlosberg in court / Photo by Pskov Yabloko
On 27 May, Judge of the Pskov City Court Victoria Malyamova granted the prosecution’s application to extend the pre-trial detention of Yabloko Deputy Chairman Lev Shlosberg until 21 November.
Photo: Emilia Slabunova / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Today, 27 May, the Supreme Court of Karelia dismissed the appeal against the ruling of the Petrozavodsk City Court of 21 April, by which Emilia Slabunova, a Yabloko deputy in the Legislative Assembly of Karelia and a recipient of the title Honoured Teacher of Russia, had been found guilty of “displaying extremist symbols and paraphernalia” under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences. The grounds for the administrative prosecution were a non-existent post from 2020 on the politician’s Telegram channel.
Photo: Dmitry Rybakov at Petrozavodsk City Court, 26 May 2026 / Photo by Karelian Yabloko
On 26 May, Petrozavodsk City Court fined Dmitry Rybakov 1,000 roubles. Rybakov is a member of the Federal Bureau of the Yabloko party, Deputy Chairman of the party’s Green Russia Faction, a deputy and leader of the Yabloko faction on Petrozavodsk City Council, and a member of the Standing Committee on Healthcare, Environment and Social Development. He had been detained the previous day and charged with “displaying extremist symbols” under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences. The Interior Ministry disregarded information about the politician’s serious health problems, and he was in a temporary detention facility throughout the night.
Photo: Nikolai Rybakov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
The defence team of Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov has filed a complaint with the Supreme Court of Russia demanding that the rulings of lower courts be overturned in the case of “displaying extremist symbols and paraphernalia”, a case arising from a post in which Rybakov expressed condolences to the family of Alexei Navalny, who died in prison. The party leader was previously fined 1,500 roubles and barred from standing in elections for one year as a result of that publication.
On 25 May, police in Petrozavodsk, Karelia, detained Dmitry Rybakov, a member of the Federal Bureau of the Yabloko party, Deputy Chairman of the party’s Green Russia Faction, deputy and leader of the Yabloko faction on the Petrozavodsk City Council, and member of the Standing Commission on Healthcare, Ecology and Social Development.
Telegram channel of the Vid Sboku online media, 25.05.2026
Photo: Konstantin Smirnov / Photo by Vid Sboku
As evidence of the guilt of Konstantin Smirnov, the [Ryazan Yabloko leader and] editor-in-chief of the online media Vid Sboku, on charges of extortion, public prosecutor Artyom Lyubimov cited in court [on 7 May 2026] receipts for the purchase of an oven costing approximately 30,000 roubles, a hob for 23,000 roubles, and chairs, also around 20,000 roubles. The public prosecutor offered no explanation of what exactly these receipts were intended to prove.
Photo: Maxim Kruglov in court on 20 May 2026 / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
On 21 May, the Moscow City Court dismissed the defence’s appeal against the remand in custody of Yabloko Deputy Chairman Maxim Kruglov. It should be noted that at the first substantive hearing of Kruglov’s criminal case, the Zamoskvoretsky District Court of Moscow granted the prosecution’s application and extended the politician’s remand by six months at a stroke.
Photo: Kirill Derevsky (centre) during the 2025 election campaign in Voronezh
Yabloko party Chairman Nikolai Rybakov has sent a formal letter to acting Voronezh Region Public Prosecutor Dmitry Neverov. The letter was prompted by information received by the party from Kirill Derevsky, a 20-year-old Yabloko supporter and the party’s candidate for the Voronezh City Duma in 2025. He alleges that he was subjected to torture and intimidation by security officers at a meeting of the Prostranstvo Politika discussion platform, which had been devoted to questions of the urban environment and urbanism.
Photo: Action of writing letters to political prisoners in Moscow / Photo by Moscow Yabloko
Yabloko invites everyone to its actions of writing letters to political prisoners, which take place in various cities across Russia (in the Yabloko party offices) every month. Anyone can sign a postcard or write a letter to a person who has faced pressure and persecution for their beliefs, that is, for political reasons.
Grigory Yavlinsky on the possibility of voting for peace and freedom, and for a new path of development for the country
YouTube channel Zhivoi Gvozd, 19.05.2026
Watch the video on YouTube switching into English subtitles
I have personally taken part in federal elections ten times: three times in presidential and seven in parliamentary elections. There have been different times and different situations. There have been elections that came close to being democratic, and elections whose results were clear from the outset. But each time, elections were first and foremost an opportunity to speak to people and offer them a different path towards the future. Sometimes millions voted for it, sometimes hundreds of thousands. It was people’s choice, as the saying goes, “you live as you vote”.
The Pskov City Court has fined Tatyana Fyodorova, a lecturer and member of the Bureau of Pskov Yabloko, 1,000 roubles under the article on the so-called displaying of “extremist symbols” (Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The ruling was handed down on 7 May 2026. It concerns a repost on VKontakte of a 2017 publication by the Pskov News Feed. One of the four photographs in the post shows a single person picket featuring a structure on which there is a photograph of Alexei Navalny, that is, the photograph was published long before the politician was added to the register of terrorists and extremists.
On 7 May, the Chairman of the Irkutsk branch of Yabloko, Grigory Gribenko, was arrested for ten days — immediately after completing a previous administrative arrest of 12 days. He is to serve the new “sentence” at a special detention centre in Irkutsk. Yabloko learned of this from the politician’s wife: he managed to inform her of the arrest in a brief telephone call on 7 May.
Photo: Alexander Shishlov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service
Today, 8 May, Igor Ryabinnikov, magistrate of Court District No. 153 of the Petrogradsky District of St. Petersburg, delivered a ruling in the administrative case against Alexander Shishlov, Coordinator of Yabloko’s Federal Political Committee and former leader of the Yabloko faction in the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly. The court found Shishlov guilty of violating Article 13.15 Part 9 of the Code of Administrative Offences of the Russian Federation — that is, of “abuse of freedom of mass media” — and imposed a fine of 30,000 roubles.
