Press Release, 9.06.2026

Photo: Svetlana Vasilkova / Photo by Pskov Yabloko

Svetlana Vasilkova, deputy of the Pustoshka Municipal District of Pskov and Deputy Chair of Pskov Yabloko, has been fined 1,000 roubles (approximately USD 14) under the article on “display of extremist symbols” (Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences). The ruling was handed down by the Opochetsky District Court on 8 June. This is the tenth administrative record drawn up against prospective party candidates ahead of the forthcoming September elections.

The grounds for the case were a post on Facebook*, allegedly published by Vasilkova in 2016. During the hearing, the politician stated that the page cited in the case materials did not belong to her and that she did not use the social network in question, Pskov Yabloko reports.

It should be noted that Svetlana Vasilkova is a well-known regional politician. Between 2019 and 2022 she led the Pustoshka Municipal District, having been elected to the post on a Yabloko ticket. During her tenure, the growth rate of the Pustoshka District’s revenue budget was the highest of the decade, both in absolute and relative terms. Despite this, in 2022 United Russia party deputies voted to strip Vasilkova of her powers — an act of retribution for her landslide election victory three years earlier (53.35% of the vote).

“Svetlana Vasilkova is fanatically devoted to the Pskov region and absolutely in love with her home land,” noted Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov. “She commands respect and support well beyond the boundaries of the region. Her authority among residents within the region is very considerable. To fight with such underhanded methods against people whom the people of Pskov support and elect is to fight against the people itself. I am confident that the Yabloko team in Pskov will weather these attacks and that together we will endure these trials.”

The case of Svetlana Vasilkova is the tenth in a series of administrative prosecutions of Yabloko members under the article on “display of extremist symbols” since November of last year, and the third against party members in Pskov.

Since November 2025, Yabloko’s leaders and top politicians have been fined under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences in St. Petersburg (Olga Shtannikova, Nikolai Rybakov and Alexander Shishlov), Pskov (Artur Gaiduk and Tatyana Fyodorova), Veliky Novgorod (Yelena Ivanova and Anton Kostryukov), and Karelia (Emilia Slabunova and Dmitry Rybakov).

The fines under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences are nominal; however, a finding of guilt under the “extremism” article renders it impossible for the person concerned to stand in elections for one year.

It is clear to Yabloko that the serial prosecution of party leaders under Article 20.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences constitutes not a “fight against extremism” but exclusively the fulfilment of a political order to remove party leaders from the forthcoming 2026 federal and regional elections.

Yabloko members are contesting the fines imposed on them through appeal and cassation proceedings.

Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov has appealed to the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation against the decisions of the lower courts in his case concerning “display of extremist symbols.” On 2 June it became known that the Supreme Court had accepted the complaint for consideration and may restore the party leader’s right to stand in elections before Yabloko’s pre-election congress.

It should be noted that the total number of Yabloko members barred from the forthcoming elections on various grounds currently stands at 32.

Further information about the persecution of party activists and members is available here.

* owned by Meta, which has been banned in the Russian Federation following its designation as an extremist organisation.