Decision by the Federal Political Committee of the Yabloko party, adopted 26.06.2026, published 1.07.2026

Photo: Imprisoned Yabloko members – Maxim Kruglov, Lev Shlosberg, Konstantin Smirnov, Vladimir Yefimov, Mikhail Afanasyev and Vasily Neustroyev

Today, Russia has only one political party that openly opposes the current policies of the authorities and offers a genuine alternative. This is the Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko, founded thirty-three years ago.

Yabloko is the only political force in Russia that is openly fighting for an immediate ceasefire agreement between Russia and Ukraine. Since 24 February 2022, Yabloko’s leaders and rank-and-file members have used every opportunity to state their position and convey it to the country’s political leadership, the citizens of Russia, and world politicians. The call to sign a ceasefire agreement, preserve human lives, and seek diplomatic paths towards resolving the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine has become Yabloko’s foremost demand over the past four and a half years.

For this principled position, which is of critical importance to our country’s future, Yabloko’s members are paying a high price — dozens of criminal and administrative cases, real prison sentences, “foreign agent” status, and fines running into the millions of roubles.

On 24 June, the Zamoskvoretsky Court in Moscow sentenced Maxim Kruglov, Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko party, to seven years’ imprisonment for the so-called dissemination of “fake news” about the Russian Armed Forces (Article 207.3 of the Criminal Code), allegedly committed out of “political hatred”. The grounds cited were two Telegram posts in which the politician expressed regret over the loss of lives.

Three other party members had previously been convicted for their political peacemaking position — journalist Mikhail Afanasyev in the Republic of Khakassia (five years and six months in a penal colony), journalist Vladimir Yefimov in the Kamchatka Territory (two years in a settlement colony), and teacher Vasily Neustroyev in St. Petersburg (ten years’ imprisonment).

Two party members are currently facing criminal trials:

— Lev Shlosberg, Deputy Chairman of the party, in Pskov (six months under house arrest and more than six months in a pre-trial detention facility);

— Konstantin Smirnov, member of the party’s Federal Bureau, in Ryazan (held in a pre-trial detention facility for one year and four months already).

The Russian Ministry of Justice has placed 12 party members on the so-called register of “foreign agents”: Deputy Chairmen Lev Shlosberg, Boris Vishnevsky, and Vladimir Dorokhov; Political Committee member Svetlana Gannushkina; Federal Bureau member Andrei Morev; Nobel Prize winner and journalist Dmitry Muratov; and party members Nikolai Kuzmin (Pskov), Sergei Troshin (St. Petersburg), Nikolai Kavkazsky (Moscow), Anton Rubin (Samara), Ksenia Cherepanova (Veliky Novgorod), and Alexander Korovainy (the Krasnodar Territory).

Forty-four searches involving armed security officers have been carried out on 32 party members and at five party offices. During these searches, equipment, communication devices, and personal belongings were seized.

Twenty-nine party members were detained and brought in for questioning by law enforcement agencies in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, Chelyabinsk, Petrozavodsk, Saratov, Ufa, Samara, Irkutsk, and Kemerovo. Eleven party members served administrative arrests.

In just the past two months alone, searches have taken place at the homes of Yabloko members and supporters in Yekaterinburg; Dmitry Rybakov, head of the party’s faction in the Petrozavodsk City Council, was taken to a detention facility; and Grigory Gribenko, head of the party’s Irkutsk regional branch, who had initiated a rally for Internet freedom in Irkutsk, has twice served terms in a special detention centre.

Forty-six administrative protocols have been drawn up against 37 party members for expressing their position in the media and on social networks — the total amount of fines imposed exceeds 8.5 million roubles.

Nine party members have been held administratively liable for “displaying extremist symbols” (Article 20.3 of the Administrative Offences Code) and have been barred from standing in the 2026 elections. These are: party Chairman Nikolai Rybakov; deputies of regional legislative assemblies from the party (Alexander Shishlov and Olga Shtannikova in St. Petersburg, Emilia Slabunova in Karelia, and Artur Gaiduk in the Pskov Region); Petrozavodsk Council deputy Dmitry Rybakov; Deputy Chair of the Novgorod branch of the party Yelena Ivanova; and party members Anton Kostryukov (Staraya Russa, the Novgorod Region) and Tatyana Fedorova (Pskov).

In every case of detention and arrest, the party pays for lawyers and supports family members and next of kin [of the prisoners]. Party representatives attend court hearings. The party raises funds to support prisoners and pay fines.

Every month, meetings take place at the party’s regional branches across the country, at which members and supporters write letters to political prisoners in Russia. In 2025 alone, more than 300 such meetings were held and more than 15,000 letters were sent to pre-trial detention facilities, penal colonies, and prisons.

The Russian United Democratic Party Yabloko expresses its resolute protest against the political persecution of party members and other Russian citizens for expressing their views, and demands the release of those deprived of their liberty on political grounds.

The presence of political prisoners in the country, the creation of threats to their health and life in places of detention, and repressive measures restricting citizens’ rights — all of this runs counter to Russia’s national interests, harms society, and undermines public trust in all state institutions.

Despite continuing and intensifying repression, not a single Yabloko member has left the party under pressure or threat. The party continues to fight for an end to the bloodshed and for the future of our country and its citizens. Yabloko calls for the conclusion of an agreement on an immediate ceasefire and proposes that voters support this vital call in the forthcoming elections in September.

Grigory Yavlinsky

Chairman of the Federal Political Committee