Press Release, 7.07.2026

Photo: Maxim Kruglov at the sentencing on 24 June 2026/ Photo by Darya Kornilova

Yabloko Deputy Chairman Maxim Kruglov, who was sentenced to seven years in a penal colony over two Telegram posts, has sent an address from Pre-Trial Detention Facility No. 2 Butyrka, in which he thanked everyone for their support, spoke about his sentence and called for support for Yabloko in the forthcoming State Duma elections. We are publishing here Maxim’s address:

“First of all, I would like to thank with all my heart everyone who has supported and continues to support me. At every court hearing, amid the stuffy holding cells and crowded prison vans, I saw the faces of my friends. You allowed me to hold on and not lose heart.

I thank my friends, my family, my relatives, I thank my lawyers for their selfless work, I thank everyone who has sent and continues to send me words of support and encouragement, and kind messages. I am grateful to my party colleagues for their unfailing support. All this makes me a little uncomfortable, as I am so deeply touched by your involvement and attention.

I accept calmly the figure announced by the judge. In the name of the Russian Federation, the state has equated “disagreement” with its policy to “hatred”, declaring that Russians may face prison for this. Alas, I am not inventing anything: this is stated almost word for word in my indictment, with which the court, in the name of our country, agreed.

This allows me to turn to all of you. Please, take care of yourselves in these difficult times. Be careful and attentive.

Despite of all this my party — Yabloko — is standing in the forthcoming elections. Our platform is the shortest in our history: peace, freedom, and life.

Support Yabloko however you can (though, as they say in prison, “not to your own detriment”). It is still possible to vote for Yabloko, for peace, freedom and life! Please, preserve yourselves and keep yourselves safe for the sake of the future, which I am certain we will build on precisely these foundations.

“As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God,” says the Apostle Peter in his epistle to us all. I believe that this will allow us to live through all the dark times.

Philosopher Gilbert Keith Chesterton wrote, I believe, of St Francis, that if only modern man were capable of such love (as Francis’s), then all their hardships and privations would turn to romance for them. I am not capable of such love, and privations will not turn to romance for me. I want to be free, and I do not want to be in prison. I want to see my daughter grow up. And yet I believe in the future, and that what is happening today is filled with great meaning — for the sake of that future. I believe that “the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not”. St.Paisios tells us not to doubt divine providence, that “the judgments of God are a deep abyss,” and I believe that all of them lead towards the light. We shall see each other again soon! Take care of yourselves, and keep this light within you!”