Press Release, 25.08.2026

Photo: Ivan Bolshakov, Roman Morozov and Anton Gendrikson / Photo by the Kaliningrad Region Electoral Commission

The corresponding administrative claim has been filed with the Kaliningrad Region Court. It will be heard on Friday, 28 August. The Kaliningrad Region Electoral Commission will take part in the case as an interested party.

At present, Yabloko does not have the text of the communists’ claim, and the party is unaware of its content or its “arguments”.

Ivan Bolshakov, the leader of Yabloko’s list in the Kaliningrad Region, notes that the Yabloko’s agenda, its election programme and its key slogans, ‘For Peace and Freedom! For a Life Without Fear!’, are especially relevant in the region and resonate with its residents:

“Even tightly controlled elections have begun to show that disagreement with what has been happening exists, and it is enormous. The authorities have been frightened by the sincere voice of citizens who want to live in peace with their neighbours. This is especially important in the Kaliningrad Region, because the region is surrounded on all sides by countries which Russia’s leadership has designated as unfriendly. And instead of taking people’s views into account, the authorities are removing from the elections the only party standing for peace and freedom, and doing so through the hands of their henchmen among the artificial party projects. They planned to hold these elections quietly, but in the end have turned the election campaign into the dirtiest and most dishonest one yet. But the desire for change cannot be hidden: Russia needs peace!”

It should be noted that in the Kaliningrad Region, Yabloko has already been assigned a number on the ballot paper (No. 3), and accordingly its list of 31 candidates was certified and registered some time ago. The region-wide part of the list is headed by:

– Ivan Bolshakov, political scientist, Head of the party’s Analytical Centre, member of Yabloko’s Federal Political Committee, the party’s representative on the Central Electoral Commission of Russia; Deputy Chairman of Yabloko in 2019–2023;

– Roman Morozov, lawyer with the Kaliningrad Region Bar Association, human rights defender and member of the Bureau of Kaliningrad Yabloko.

Also previously included in the region-wide part of the list was Anton Gendrikson, an entrepreneur and public figure in the Kaliningrad Region. After the list of Yabloko’s candidates was put forward, he was subjected to administrative prosecution on a trumped-up charge and lost the right to take part in the elections.

It should be noted that Yabloko’s candidates currently continue to fight for seats in the regional parliaments of the Kaliningrad, Novgorod, Pskov, Sverdlovsk and Tomsk Regions. The party’s lists have been removed from the elections in St. Petersburg, the Leningrad Region and Karelia. The grounds for removal are purely political and are aimed at preventing Yabloko’s candidates from taking part in campaigns precisely in those regions where the party traditionally enjoys broad support among voters. Yabloko is appealing the decisions to remove its lists in the courts.

Thirteen Yabloko candidates nominated in single-mandate constituencies remain participants in the elections in St. Petersburg, and a further 12 in Karelia.