Press Release, 19.08.2026

Photo: Members of St. Petersburg Yabloko and parliamentary candidates at the Second Court of Appeal on 19 August / Photo by St. Petersburg Yabloko

On Wednesday, 19 August, the Second Court of Appeal dismissed Yabloko’s appeal against the ruling of the St. Petersburg City Court refusing to admit the party’s citywide list to the Legislative Assembly elections.

Yabloko was supported in court by St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly deputies Olga Shtannikova and Dmitry Anisimov, who heads the party’s list for the forthcoming elections, as well as by Alexander Shishlov, former leader of the parliamentary faction, and Olga Pokrovskaya, Chair of the Federal Party Arbitration Committee. The hearing also attracted considerable interest from journalists. So many people came to the hearing that it was quickly moved to a larger courtroom.

Yabloko’s interests in court were represented by lawyer Alexander Kobrinsky, Deputy Chairman of St. Petersburg Yabloko. However, his clear and detailed argument — that a technical error in the power of attorney authorising the signing of the financial report had been promptly corrected, and that the St. Petersburg City Electoral Commission had simply failed to notify Yabloko that the documents needed correcting — was disregarded by the panel of judges.

As was the fact that, at the past elections in 2021, Yabloko had received the support of 125,000 city residents, and depriving them of that opportunity in the new electoral cycle would be wrong and unjust.

Yabloko will appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court. At the same time, the party still has 11 candidates in single-mandate constituencies, who are continuing their election campaigns and await their voters at the polling stations.