Press Release, 18.07.2026

Photo: Yabloko’s slogan “For Peace and Freedom! For a Life Without Fear!” / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

On Monday, 17 August, the Second Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction ordered the territorial electoral commissions of two constituencies – No. 2 and No. 21 – to reconsider the registration of Yabloko candidates for the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly. The candidates concerned are Olga Tsepilova, Chair of St. Petersburg Yabloko, and lawyer and party member Anton Kostik.

It should be noted that as early as 6 August the St. Petersburg City Court had ruled that the electoral commissions’ refusals to register the Yabloko single-mandate candidates on spurious grounds were lawful. In Olga Tsepilova’s case, the refusal concerned objections to dates in the documents she had submitted. In Anton Kostik’s case, the refusal was based on his ownership of assets which the electoral commissions had deemed foreign (in fact, shares worth 29,000 roubles in a Russian investment fund).

After the City Court upheld the electoral commissions’ refusal to register the candidates, they lodged complaints with the Second Court of Appeal of General Jurisdiction.

Both complaints were upheld on 17 August. The court ordered the territorial electoral commissions to reconsider the candidates’ registration.

It should also be noted that on 17 August the Second Court of Appeal also considered the question of another Yabloko candidate’s participation in the campaign – Dmitry Khorzov (constituency No. 20). LDPR candidate Vladimir Osmolovsky had earlier sought to have Khorzov’s registration annulled; his objections, as St. Petersburg Yabloko has stressed, amounted to wordplay and contained no genuine grounds for annulment. The City Court’s ruling on 5 August was in Khorzov’s favour, but the LDPR candidate appealed and lost again, this time at the Second Court of Appeal.

Кроме того, в минувший понедельник тот же суд оставил в силе отказ в регистрации на выборах кандидата по округу №3 Федора Агеева. Претензии ТИК к нему схожи с теми, что предъявлялись Антону Костику, только в случае с Агеевым он оказался владельцем всего одной иностранной акции (стоимостью 9 тысяч рублей), продать которую в настоящий момент невозможно из-за санкций и ограничений.

In addition, on the same Monday the same court upheld the refusal to register Fyodor Ageyev, a candidate for constituency No. 3, for the election. The Territorial Electoral Commission’s objections to him were similar to those raised against Anton Kostik, except that Ageyev turned out to hold just a single foreign share (worth 9,000 roubles), which cannot currently be sold owing to sanctions and restrictions.

Yabloko was represented in each of the four hearings on 17 August by lawyer and Deputy Chair of St. Petersburg Yabloko Alexander Kobrinsky; the individual candidates were represented by lawyer and member of the St. Petersburg Electoral Commission Pavel Shapchits, while Anton Kostik represented himself in the proceedings.

It should be noted that in St. Petersburg the electoral commission refused to register Yabloko’s list of candidates for the Legislative Assembly, and this decision was upheld by the St. Petersburg City Court. It will be appealed. At the same time, 11 Yabloko candidates nominated in single-mandate constituencies remain in the race. The electoral commission also refused to register Yabloko’s list of candidates for the regional parliament of the Leningrad Region; this decision will also be appealed. A similar appeal process against the exclusion of Yabloko candidates from the Legislative Assembly elections is under way in Karelia.

Yabloko’s candidate lists have been registered in the Tomsk, Novgorod, Kaliningrad, Sverdlovsk and Pskov regions.