Press Release, 10.09.2026

Photo: Anna Cherepanova and Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov at a meeting with voters in Novgorod on 8 September 2026/ Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

On 9 September, the Novgorod Region Electoral Commission annulled the registration of Anna Cherepanova — Deputy Chairperson of Yabloko, leader of the party’s list for the elections to the Novgorod Region Duma, a deputy of the Veliky Novgorod Duma, and Chair of Novgorod Yabloko.

Cherepanova became the fifth regional Yabloko branch leader to lose the opportunity to take part in the current election campaign. Courts had earlier disqualified regional branch chairs from the single-mandate constituency elections to the State Duma: Iya Boronina in Udmurtia, Anton Paramonov in the Tula Region, Yaroslav Shcherbakov in the Chelyabinsk Region, and Sergei Kryzhov in the Moscow Region.

The day before, the Novgorod Regional Court upheld the ruling holding Anna Cherepanova administratively liable for “displaying extremist symbols.” The appeal hearing lasted five and a half hours.

Yabloko considers the case fabricated and the prosecution of Anna Cherepanova politically motivated. The case materials contain no objective evidence that she created or administered the YouTube channel on which a video of the 23 January 2021 rally had been posted. The defence also pointed to the expiry of the limitation period for administrative liability and to procedural violations in the handling of the case.

Anna Cherepanova is one of 24 Yabloko members and activists held administratively liable, or facing protocols, under Article 20.3 of the Russian Administrative Offences Code for “displaying extremist symbols.” They include Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov, regional parliament deputies Alexander Shishlov and Olga Shtannikova in St. Petersburg, Emilia Slabunova in Karelia, and Artur Gaiduk in the Pskov Region. A conviction under this article carries a one-year ban on standing in elections.

Despite the disqualification of the Novgorod Yabloko leader, the regional branch of Yabloko continues to take part in the elections in the Novgorod Region.

On 20 September, voters will be able to cast ballots for the party and its candidates on three of the four ballot papers:

— for Viktor Shalyakin in the State Duma elections;
— for the Yabloko list for the Novgorod Region Duma — No. 3 on the ballot;
— for 12 Yabloko candidates standing in single-mandate constituencies for the regional Duma.