Press Release, 20 January 2026

Photo: Konstantin Smirnov / Photo by Vidsboku media

On 20 January, Ryazan Regional Court extended the detention period for Konstantin Smirnov, the leader of Yabloko in Ryazan, well-known regional journalist and editor-in-chief of the regional media outlet Vidsboku, for another three months, until 30 April 2026.

Smirnov has already been held in a pre-trial detention centre for almost a year on a case concerning so-called “extortion”. He does not admit guilt.

Yabloko insists that the persecution of the leader of the Ryazan branch of the party is politically motivated and connected to his active struggle against the abolition of local self-government in the region.

It should be noted that Smirnov is being persecuted for political reasons for his fight against municipal reform reduced to liquidation of rural settlements and their local self-government bodies: he informed regional residents about the forthcoming liquidation of rural settlements, participated in public hearings on the merger of settlements, and covered the scandal-ridden hearings in the media and on the Internet. For this work, a year ago Smirnov was arrested and placed in detention, though the formal pretext was an accusation of alleged extortion (https://eng.yabloko.ru/35145-2/ ).

Throughout the past year, Ryazan public figures, dozens of Russian journalists, Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov, Chairman of the party’s Federal Political Committee Grigory Yavlinsky, and party leaders and deputies from different regions of Russia have all requested that the court change Konstantin Smirnov’s measure of restraint. In November 2025, Eva Merkacheva, member of the Presidential Human Rights Council, sent an appeal to the court (https://eng.yabloko.ru/36902-2/ ).