Press Release, 2.10.2025

Photo: Maxim Kruglov in the courtroom / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Zamoskvoretsky District Court in Moscow sent Yabloko party Deputy Chairman Maxim Kruglov to a remand centre until 29 November. He has been charged under Article 207.3, Part 2, point “d” of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (dissemination of “fakes about the army”). The defence petitioned for a preventive measure not involving detention. Party leaders Nikolai Rybakov, Grigory Yavlinsky and Academician of the Russian Academy of Sciences Alexei Arbatov offered personal guarantees. The party was also prepared to post bail.

Maxim Kruglov was detained in St Petersburg on 1 October, where he was on a private trip. Around two o’clock in the morning of October 2, he was taken to the Moscow Investigative Committee and interrogated. During the night, a search was also conducted at Kruglov’s flat. His defence lawyer Natalia Tikhonova is preparing complaints about numerous procedural violations that were committed during the night’s investigative actions.

Hereinafter photos by the Yabloko Press Service

Speaking in court, Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov characterised Kruglov as a composed and law-abiding person:

“Maxim enjoys great respect in the party. At the [Yabloko] congress he was elected Deputy Chairman. We know him as someone who, at a fairly young age, defended his Candidate of Political Science dissertation and has been seriously engaged in research work. He prepares numerous reports that are discussed not only within the party, but also in many public organisations and state structures.

Maxim has significant experience leading the Yabloko party faction in the Moscow City Duma — moreover, the faction included such experienced deputies as Sergei Mitrokhin and Yevgeny Bunimovich. They entrusted Maxim with leading the faction. It was noticeable that he enjoyed respect in the Moscow City Duma deputy corps as well. In part because he is a very composed, balanced person, always striving to call on everyone to observe the law and change the political system only through legislative mechanisms. Therefore, Maxim can be characterised exclusively as a law-abiding and reasonable person.”

Deputy Chairman of Moscow Yabloko Kirill Goncharov gave a similar characterization to Maxim Kruglov:

“It is no accident that Maxim was elected deputy of the Moscow City Duma and holds the position of Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party. His high political standards and human qualities are known to everyone — both voters and his colleagues. He is a man of his word, who will always help and support, and will never engage in anything unlawful.

Moreover, Maxim is a well-educated person, he holds an academic degree. His students are present in court today, including amongst the journalists, which is also significant.

In addition, he is a very creative person: he plays music, writes poems and songs, and performs them. He is multifaceted, with a broad outlook — and I cannot imagine how such charges could be brought against him.”

Maxim Kruglov in his statement decisively rejected the charges and declared that he had always acted strictly within the legal framework and did not intend to put pressure on the investigation because of his “belonging to the political class”, as the public prosecutor insisted, or abscond:

“I find the investigation’s petition rather strange. I am Deputy Chairman of the officially registered Yabloko party, which is embedded in Russian institutions and operates in the legal field. I have been in the party since I was 17 and have always shared its programme positions and values.

I joined because I fully shared these views and wanted to help. This coincided with my worldview when I entered the first year of political science.

All this time — before and after being a deputy — I worked exclusively in the legal field. I did not commit any radical actions, and everything I did fully complied with the norms of political culture and legislation of the Russian Federation. The Yabloko party is an officially registered, legally operating party that participates in elections. I was its representative in the Moscow City Duma elections.

Now the esteemed investigator is asking to send me to a remand centre for some post made two and a half years ago. This looks strange, even absurd. The investigator’s argument that I am ‘known in political circles’ also causes bewilderment — a strange attitude towards the political class.

Honourable court, I once again emphasise my commitment to the fact that political work must be carried out within the framework of Russia’s existing institutions and legislation, through legal participation in elections. I have demonstrated this throughout my life.

I ask that a preventive measure not involving detention in a remand centre be imposed on me. I undertake to appear at all interrogations and fulfil all procedural requirements. I do not intend to abscond from the investigation and do not intend to appeal to any ‘political figures’ with requests to help me do so.

The argument about me having a passport for travels abroad is also untenable — it has been confiscated, I have no other passport for travels abroad. Even if I had one, I would not intend to use it. I once again declare my complete adherence to the legislation of the Russian Federation and procedural norms.

Therefore, I would like to be able to see my family — my mother, wife and daughter. I very much ask the honourable court to impose a preventive measure on me not involving detention in a remand centre.”

Lawyer Natalia Tikhonova insists that the law does not allow a petition for a preventive measure to be justified by assumptions and conjectures, and that the presence of a Schengen visa in Kruglov’s passport for travels abroad does not mean he intends to abscond.

The lawyer intends to appeal the Zamoskvoretsky Court’s decision to a higher instance.

MAXIM KRUGLOV

is a Deputy Chairman of Yabloko, a member of the Federal Bureau of the Party, Deputy Chairman of the Moscow branch of Yabloko,  head of the Yabloko faction in the Moscow City Duma (2019-2024), Candidate of Political Sciences