Press Release, 30.07.2026

Photo: Ivan Bolshakov with his letter to Chair of the Moscow Electoral Commission Olga Kirillova / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

Ivan Bolshakov, one of the leaders of Yabloko’s federal list in the State Duma election and the party’s representative at the Central Electoral Commission of Russia, has sent a request to Olga Kirillova, Chair of the Moscow Electoral Commission, demanding that she check the campaigning in Moscow by the pro-government United Russia party. Specifically, the request concerns posters for United Russia’s State Duma candidates that have not been paid for from an electoral fund and that are being placed en masse on “Chisty Gorod” (“Clean City”) noticeboards — a government housing-and-utilities project intended for notifying residents of apartment buildings.

It should be noted that election campaigning is regulated by Articles 62 and 68 of the Federal Law “On the Election of Deputies to the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation,” which set out not only the procedure for producing and placing campaign materials during a campaign period, but also strict rules on paying for such materials.

“Such materials must contain information about the producer, the client, the print run, the date of production, and payment from the relevant electoral fund,” the request to the Moscow City Electoral Commission runs. “Copies of printed campaign materials, or their duplicates, as well as electronic images of such materials, must be submitted to the relevant electoral commission before distribution begins. Along with them, information on the location of the producer and the client must be submitted, together with a copy of the document confirming payment for the production of the material from the relevant electoral fund. The materials described lack the mandatory imprint data required for campaign materials.”

“The legality of placing such materials specifically on ‘Chisty Gorod’ noticeboards, installed at the entrances of residential buildings, requires separate scrutiny,” the request states. “Given the scale of the network of noticeboards at residential building entrances in Moscow, this situation cannot be regarded as an isolated incident. It is necessary to check not only the attached posters, but the entire systematic, targeted campaign of placing similar materials in the interests of United Russia’s candidates across the whole city.”

Under Article 56(8) of Federal Law No. 67-FZ, when campaign materials are distributed, the relevant commission is obliged to approach law enforcement bodies, the courts, and the federal body responsible for control and oversight in the media sphere, submitting a request for the unlawful campaigning activity to be stopped, for the unlawful campaign materials to be seized, and for those responsible to be held to account.

“Regional electoral commissions nitpick over every comma in Yabloko’s documents and campaign materials, yet show tolerance towards administrative resource abuse, remaining blind to the party of power’s blatant violation of campaigning rules. Information noticeboards in Moscow have long since become a tool for maintaining United Russia’s monopoly, but the party of power has now stopped even pretending to observe the law and to conduct the election campaign honestly and on equal terms with other parties,” Ivan Bolshakov stressed.

He therefore asks the Moscow Electoral Commission, in his request, to:

• carry out an inspection of the placement of United Russia’s campaign materials on residential building noticeboards;
• check the payment procedure for all the posters in question, to confirm they were paid for from the appropriate electoral fund;
• give a legal assessment of the materials in question as to whether they display the characteristics of election campaign material set out in Article 62(1), paragraphs 4 and 6, of Federal Law No. 20-FZ, and as to compliance with the requirements of Articles 62, 63 and 68 of Federal Law No. 20-FZ;
• take measures to bring the distribution of the unlawful campaign materials to an immediate halt;
• forward the results of the inspection to the Central Electoral Commission of Russia and to the authorised bodies, for a decision on holding those responsible to administrative account.