Press Release, 31.01.2025

Photo: Konstantin Smirnov / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

The Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Investigative Committee have detained Konstantin Smirnov, the leader of Ryazan Yabloko, journalist and municipal deputy, on charges of extortion. Yabloko is convinced that this is revenge for his active work as a municipal deputy and political activity, in particular, for the campaign against the authorities’ initiative on abolishing local self-governing in the region.

According to the Ryazan Investigative Committee, a criminal case was opened against Konstantin Smirnov “for extortion committed by a group of persons by prior conspiracy on a large scale (Article 163, Part 2, paragraphs “a” and “g” of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). He was detained on the evening of January 30.

The Yabloko party resolutely rejects the charges brought against Smirnov. We have no doubt that the persecution of Smirnov is related primarily to his campaign against abolishing of local self-governing in the Ryazan region.

“Any extortion is out of the question. We knew in advance that Konstantin was at risk. As a politician, journalist and deputy, he has been doing a lot of work in the Ryazan region against the destruction of municipalities for several months. Hundreds of people came to public hearings and voted against the actions of the regional government. It got to the point that the State Duma had to recognise that they should not give out the tasks [to all regional authorities] of depriving people of local self-governing. Konstantin deserves great credit for this. But the regional government has not forgiven him for this and has begun to interact. We will do everything possible to free Konstantin,” Nikolai Rybakov, Chairman of Yabloko, said.

Konstantin Smirnov is the Chairman of the Ryazan regional branch of Yabloko, a member of the Yabloko Federal Bureau, and the founder and editor-in-chief of the online publication Vid Sboku (A Side View). Since 2017 he has been a deputy of Dubrovichskoye rural settlement of Ryazansky district, the Ryazan region. This year by-elections of the State Duma deputy will be held in Ryazan region, and Konstantin Smirnov plans to take part in them and has a high chance of winning the mandate.

This is already the eighth criminal case against members of Yabloko over the past three years. The leaders of three regional branches of the party – in Yakutia, Kamchatka and the Vologda region – were accused of “discrediting the army”, activists from Abakan and St. Petersburg – of “fakes about the army”. Deputy Chairman of the party Lev Shlosberg became a defendant in a criminal case on failure to fulfill the duties of a “foreign agent”.

Read more about the persecution of Yabloko members after the start of the special military operation here.