Press Release, 9.09.2022

Photo: Alexander Makhankov’s leaflet running “Thou shalt not kill” / Photo from Alexander Makhankov’s personal page in the VK social media

State Duma deputy from the government’s United Russia party – Vitaly Milonov – wrote an appeal to the Public Prosecutor of St. Petersburg with a request to “pay attention” to the campaign materials of Alexander Makhankov, a candidate from Yabloko to the municipal council of the Pushkinsky District of St.Petersburg. According to Milonov, leaflets with the slogan “I stand for peace” could be aimed at “discrediting the President and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation”.

The pro-government MP drew attention of the public prosecutor to the fact that Makhankov’s leaflets contained “a couple of unflattering lines about the President of the country,” and the Yabloko candidate “covertly mentioned a special military operation,” saying that repressive legislation intensified in Russia after 24 February

It should be noted that campaign leaflets of Alexander Makhankov had already been sent for examination on suspicion of the presence of “extremism”. Territorial Electoral Commission No. 20 recommended Makhankov to stop the distribution of leaflets for the duration of the examination, on the verge of voting days. (https://eng.yabloko.ru/the-pacifist-campaign-of-the-yabloko-candidate-running-in-the-municipal-elections-of-the-leningrad-region-will-be-checked-for-extremism/ )

In his leaflets, Makhankov reflected the key directives of the Yabloko party congress: the demands of the party to exchange war prisoners with Ukraine on the principle of “all for all”, a ceasefire, the investigation of war crimes and the release of Russian political prisoners. The Territorial Electoral Commission suspected that such a stance was of an extremist nature.