Press Release, 25.12.2025

Photo: Maxim Kruglov at the Moscow City Court hearing on 25 December 2025

On 25 December, the Moscow City Court heard an appeal against the detention of Yabloko Deputy Chairman Maxim Kruglov, who is accused of spreading “fakes” about the army and has been held in a pre-trial detention centre since 2 October. The defence categorically insisted, and not for the first time, that there were no grounds for detention, that the investigation was making critical errors and could not justify its regular demand to keep Kruglov in custody. The prosecutor objected: there were no grounds for changing the preventive measure. Maxim Kruglov chose to deliver a speech at this hearing devoted to the judicial system.

His speech was followed by his friends and colleagues from Yabloko led by Chairman Nikolai Rybakov – all of them came to court despite the fact that Maxim attended the hearing via video link from Pre-trial Detention Centre No. 2 (Butyrka).

Below we publish the full text of Maxim Kruglov’s speech:

“I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone who came to support me.

Essentially, the issues we are examining today make no sense – I see no great sense here – in discussing them at length and in detail. It seems to me that, being grown-ups, we roughly understand how today’s hearing will end. Unfortunately, having been kept within these walls for nearly three months now, I have realised that the sinister abbreviation ‘BZ’ has become an absolutely unavoidable reality for prisoners. It stands for ‘bez izmeneniy’ [without changes] – I hear it every day, as do my cellmates and other inmates.

We understand that the question of preventive measures is, in principle, in the hands of the investigator. Perhaps I am mistaken, I hope I am, but this theoretical knowledge that I had whilst at liberty is being transformed here into quite definite knowledge.

Let us tell the truth diplomatically: it is not in the traditions of our judicial system to contradict the investigation, no matter how absurd and ridiculous, in my view, the investigator’s justifications might be in arguing for the preventive measure he proposes.

In my view, there is no point in speaking to the substance. On the other hand – we are all human, and some sense of expectation and hope for a New Year miracle cannot help but live within me. And, therefore, bearing this hope in mind, in case the court is considering the possibility of acting somewhat atypically today, outside the formal rules of the system’s functioning, I will say that I do not intend to abscond from the investigation – I have a flat where I could serve, for example, house arrest. I am being charged with an Internet post from April 2022, if I am not mistaken. That is, a post which, in the investigator’s opinion, was written 3.5 years ago. I am not being charged with murder, fraud, bribery or violence, but with a post that for 3.5 years raised no questions from anyone, that no one considered a threat to state security, a crime against the state and so forth. But now they do. I understand that ahead of the State Duma elections, I, as Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party, cannot, in the system’s view, be at liberty. After all, the party advocates both for a ceasefire agreement and for peace. But this is a political story. The State Duma elections are approaching, and so, for some reason, they [the authorities] want me to be kept within these walls.

However, at the same time, let us be fair and note that the judicial system does not administer some kind of selective justice. Here everyone is truly  equal and the attitude towards everyone is roughly the same. Whether it is political case or not – it is always ‘without changes’, always an extension [of the preventive measure] if the investigator and prosecutor submit such a motion. In principle, accepting all this background, it seems to me fairly obvious that keeping a person in prison for a peaceful, humanistic post on the Internet makes no sense whatsoever, and contradicts, in principle, considerations of humanity, justice and even common sense.

But being a political scientist, a lecturer, and in principle a person interested in Russian history, it is more or less clear to me what is happening and why it is happening. So I think we shall await the decision of the honourable court. And I wish you all, especially those who came today, happy holidays, and congratulate you on the New Year and Christmas.”

The court deliberated for about ten minutes. The result, as Maxim Kruglov had anticipated, turned out to be BZ [without changes]. The judge announced that there were no grounds for changing the preventive measure or revoking it altogether.

Photo: During the break, Maxim Kruglov’s colleagues and friends could wave to him and send greetings by gestures (as the sound from the courtroom was switched off)

“Maxim has not committed any crime even under current Russian legislation, but the investigation believes he has, albeit a non-violent one,” Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov explained after the hearing:

“How can it be that a person should be kept in the Butyrka Prison for a non-violent crime, for a social media post? Why couldn’t he be given the opportunity to spend New Year at home with his mother and sister, by changing the preventive measure to a more humane one? After Tzar Alexander II’s reforms, Russian courts had the inscription engraved: ‘May truth and mercy reign in the courts’. Unfortunately, very often today in Russian courts people can neither prove the truth nor count on mercy. As Maxim today.”

Yabloko will continue to fight by all possible lawful means for the freedom of Maxim Kruglov and other party members subjected to unlawful criminal prosecution, Nikolai Rybakov emphasised.

It should be noted that Yabloko’s position on the question of Maxim Kruglov’s arrest and the charges brought against him was declared by the party’s Federal Bureau: “The persecution of Kruglov is yet another blow against all those in Russia who maintain their own opinion and openly advocate for peace. The Yabloko party demands the immediate release of Maxim Kruglov and the termination of the criminal case against him.”