Press Release, 9.09.2026

Ahead of Russia’s 20 September elections, Yabloko has issued guidance to its supporters under the name “Plan B” — a call to vote as a matter of conscience, civil responsibility and desire for peace.

The goal of the party is to get as many mandates as possible for the candidates “For Peace and Freedom”, get Yabloko candidates elected to the regional Assemblies of the Novgorod and Tomsk regions. Yabloko is fielding State Duma candidates in single-mandate constituencies, as well as party lists and single mandate candidates in several regional legislative assemblies, including St. Petersburg, Karelia, and the Sverdlovsk, Pskov, Novgorod, Tomsk and Kaliningrad regions.

Yabloko is urging supporters to vote in person on 20 September using a paper ballot, which offers stronger protection against fraud than electronic voting. Where a Yabloko candidate is standing, the party is asking voters to back them directly, voting by paper ballot rather than using electronic voting. On the party-list ballot, Yabloko is calling on voters to reject every other party on offer, including nominally non-parliamentary ones, as the latter are  spoilers indistinguishable from the parliamentary parties that back the Kremlin’s special military operation and repression. Voters who do not wish to support any party can instead cast a deliberately invalid ballot, which is preferable to leaving a blank vote open to abuse by others.

The party is also advising Yabloko supporters facing pressure from employers who urge them to vote electronically that they are entitled to refuse and to insist on a paper ballot instead.

Yabloko says its candidates and the party itself have faced unprecedented pressure during the campaign, including legal challenges brought with the involvement of non-parliamentary parties seeking to have Yabloko candidates and lists removed from elections.

“Be with us. Be for peace. Be for Yabloko,” the appeal concludes.