Press Release, 22.02.2024

Photo: Ksenia Cherepanova / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

The decision of the Public Prosecutor General’s Office on blocking Ksenia Cherepanova’s page was made, according to the social network notification, on 21 February. Previously, VKontakte blocked the pages of Anna Cherepanova, Chair of the regional branch of the party, and Oksana Sergeyeva, deputy of the City Duma of Veliky Novgorod and deputy of the Yermolinsky rural settlement of the Novgorod region from Yabloko.

Photo: Screenshot of Ksenia Cherepanova’s VKontakte page

The leader of the Novgorod Yabloko, Anna Cherepanova, believes that the blocking occurred because of her post about the death of political prisoner Alexei Navalny.

“Ksenia Cherepanova will not appeal the decision of the Public Prosecutor General’s Office, which became the basis for the blocking; she considers it pointless,” Ksenia Cherepanova commented.

Ksenia Cherepanova was recognised as person affiliated with a foreign agent in 2021 for her cooperation with the Golos independent election observers movement. Before this, the politician headed the Novgorod branch of Golos. In August 2023, during the election campaign for the election of deputies of the City Duma, candidate Ksenia Cherepanova’s house was searched in the case of the Co-chairman of Golos Grigory Melkonyants.

In total, since the beginning of the so-called “special operation”, 11 pages on Vkontakte belonging to Yabloko party members were blocked on the decision of the Public Prosecutor General’s Office, including the pages of deputies of Legislative Assemblies Boris Vishnevsky (St. Petersburg) and Emilia Slabunova (Karelia), member of the Federal Bureau of the party Alexander Yefimov (the Volgograd region), leaders of regional branches Lev Shlosberg (the Pskov region), Anna Cherepanova (the Novgorod region) and Ruslan Zinatullin (Tatarstan).