Press Release, 25.11.2025

Photo: Maxim Kruglov at the hearing on 25 November 2025 / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

On 25 November, Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky Court extended the arrest of Yabloko Deputy Chairman Maxim Kruglov for a month – until 29 December. Speaking in court, Kruglov’s defence emphasised: the investigation not only did not have a single argument in favour of arrest, but in principle had no reason to persecute the politician. Moreover, the case materials were compiled carelessly, they contained gross errors, and the arguments in favour of arrest did not fit within Criminal Procedure Code norms.

Zamoskvoretsky Court hearings in Moscow continue in the Perovsky District Court building (large-scale repair work of court premises is taking place in the capital). Because of this, the previously widespread timing mix-ups and logistics of delivering defendants to trials have only worsened. Thus, the hearing scheduled for 12 o’clock on the issue of extending the preventive measure for Maxim Kruglov began on Tuesday with a four-hour delay. None of the dozens of Kruglov’s friends, colleagues and relatives, however, dispersed – everyone waited to see Maxim, as he was to attend the hearing in person.

It should be noted that Kruglov has been deprived of liberty since 1 October and officially arrested since 2 October on charges of publicly disseminating “fakes” about the army (Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code). Yabloko is convinced that this charge has no real grounds whatsoever and is part of political pressure on independent voices.

Federal Bureau members Vladimir Dorokhov and Andrei Morev, Moscow Yabloko Chairman Kirill Goncharov and Moscow branch Deputy Chairman Yury Shein came to court to support Maxim Kruglov. Party Chairman Nikolai Rybakov submitted to the court a personal guarantee for Kruglov – this time the Yabloko leader could not be present in person as he was attending another court hearing – in Ryazan. There, the court was also extending the preventive measure for Konstantin Smirnov, Yabloko member and the Ryazan branch leader.

When the court in Moscow finally began and journalists, Kruglov’s relatives and most of his friends were let into the hall, the investigation representative took the floor. She demanded that the arrest be extended – for a month, until 29 December – and explained this with the following arguments: Kruglov allegedly may abscond from the investigation and even leave the Russian Federation, as he has a foreign passport and an open Schengen visa; he committed a “serious crime against authority and security” and he “repeatedly demonstrated contempt for the current authorities”.

The public prosecutor briefly supported these arguments, after which the defence side spoke.

Lawyer Natalia Tikhonova began with the main point: the investigation’s petition did not mention lawful reasons for extending the preventive measure even once:

“We did not hear what specific investigative actions need to be carried out with Kruglov in the coming month and why they could not have been carried out earlier. Criminal procedure law contains three reasons for imposing a preventive measure: a person may abscond, continue to engage in criminal activity, or obstruct proceedings in the case. The investigation does not cite a single fact that would confirm at least one of the lawful reasons for holding him in a remand prison.”

Thus, Maxim Kruglov not only has never absconded from the investigation, but has also never been the addressee of an Investigative Committee summons since the criminal case was opened, the lawyer emphasised. He simply was not called in for an interview or interrogation; he was detained and immediately arrested, with the necessity of a remand prison explained by hypothetical attempts by Kruglov to abscond. That is, the investigation makes an assumption and uses it as a reason for effectively depriving a person of liberty.

Moreover, Maxim Kruglov has an elderly mother and younger sister, care for whom – including financial care – he undertook whilst working. Now relatives have no such opportunity to receive support.

“Maxim Kruglov’s direct and stable social connections do not allow one to say that he will attempt to abscond,” Natalia Tikhonova continued. “Moreover, he gave the investigation detailed testimony and in no way obstructed proceedings. All his technical devices were confiscated; they are all now at the investigation’s disposal – and this also indicates that he will not be able in future to engage in the activity that the investigation imputes to him as guilt and which is not some kind of violent actions.”

Grounds for imposing any preventive measure in principle and extending this measure are absent, the lawyer said and listed: Kruglov has no previous convictions, has a candidate degree in political sciences, is positively characterised by colleagues, neighbours and voters, and enjoys their respect.

Then Natalia Tikhonova, confirming her words, read to the court about ten character references: from Kruglov’s former colleagues in the Moscow City Duma (deputies of other political factions), Moscow voters and, certainly, Yabloko friends and colleagues. Ten personal guarantees from Yabloko members were also handed to the court.

Lawyer Sergei Badamshin, for his part, noted that the investigation continued to make gross errors in elementary document workflow: it petitioned to extend the measure of restraint in a case of which Maxim Kruglov is not a defendant (the investigation materials cite a case number having no relation to Maxim Kruglov). It should be noted that the defence previously indicated a “monstrous number of errors” and “negligence” by the investigation: the case materials state that Kruglov is charged with publicly disseminating “fakes” on social media back in 2020, although at that time such an article of the Criminal Code did not yet exist; it also states that Kruglov is accused of “a corruption crime”, which is in fact a direct lie.

Maxim Kruglov also had the opportunity to speak. He said that in two months in detention, no investigative actions had been conducted with him. The politician criticised the investigation’s argument about his possession of a foreign passport and visa: the passport with visa was long ago confiscated by the investigation itself; Kruglov had no access to the document. Kruglov also rejected the thesis that he allegedly repeatedly demonstrated contempt for authority. He reminded that the essence of legal political work consisted in providing society with alternative viewpoints.

“This is a simple, completely uncomplicated case in which the investigation could have sorted things out in two months,” Kruglov said. “If the investigation did not have enough time, then I would like to await the end of the investigation at home.”

Thus, Maxim Kruglov asked the court to impose on him a preventive measure in the form of house arrest, whilst his lawyers asked that the preventive measure be cancelled altogether.

Nevertheless, the judge agreed with the investigation and issued a decision to extend Maxim Kruglov’s arrest until 29 December 2025.

Yabloko leader Nikolai Rybakov, following the results of two hearings on 25 November – in Moscow and Ryazan, draws a parallel between the persecution of his colleagues – Maxim Kruglov and Konstantin Smirnov: “Without going into details, events are developing identically. No investigative actions have been taking place. Our friends and colleagues are simply left behind bars – from one hearing to another.”

Rybakov emphasises that in both cases, the investigation participates in hearings with only one argument – “that’s how it must be” – which has no relation to law whatsoever. It is precisely “that’s how it must be” that is now the reason (in the investigation’s opinion) for extending arrests. “Lawyers produce arguments one after another that for our colleagues there are no grounds for the most serious preventive measure as for murderers. That, according to law, there should be house arrest at most. There are no responses from the investigation and public prosecutor’s office. The result is remand prison,” Nikolai Rybakov notes.