Press Release, 26.08.2026

Photo: A Yabloko campaign billboard for the 2026 elections / Photo by the Yabloko Press Service

The LDPR party has filed a claim with the Sverdlovsk Region Court seeking to overturn the registration of Yabloko’s list of candidates for the elections to the region’s Legislative Assembly. The claim will be heard on 28 August.

LDPR is seeking to overturn the regional electoral commission’s ruling of 6 August registering Yabloko’s list. The claimant cites three grounds: Yabloko’s use of information resources with restricted access, an alleged violation of intellectual property legislation in the course of campaigning, and the use of election fund resources in excess of the amount established by law.

In particular, the claim cites publications by Yabloko candidates on Instagram and Facebook* (owned by Meta, whose activities have been declared extremist and are banned in Russia), as well as the use of song excerpts and Sberbank trademarks in campaign materials. In addition, LDPR is attempting to extend to the regional campaign the same circumstances that the Supreme Court had previously relied on when considering the case concerning the removal of Yabloko’s federal list.

LDPR also claims that Yabloko’s campaign spending in the federal race must be taken into account when determining spending on the regional election.

The Sverdlovsk Region has become the sixth region where attempts are being made to prevent Yabloko’s list from taking part in the regional parliament elections.

The party’s list was previously removed from the elections in St. Petersburg, the Leningrad Region, Karelia and the Pskov Region. In the Kaliningrad Region, a claim seeking to overturn the registration of Yabloko’s list was filed by the Communists of Russia party.

In Karelia and the Pskov Region, the Rodina party secured the overturning of the registration of Yabloko’s lists through the courts. In St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, the electoral commissions refused to register the party’s lists. Now LDPR is seeking to overturn the registration of Yabloko’s list in the Sverdlovsk Region through the courts.

Yabloko is appealing the decisions obstructing the party’s participation in the elections, and continues to seek the reinstatement of its lists.

At present, Yabloko’s candidate lists continue to take part in regional campaigns in the Kaliningrad, Novgorod, Pskov, Sverdlovsk and Tomsk Regions. In the Pskov Region, the court’s ruling overturning the list’s registration has not yet entered into legal force.

The party’s candidates continue to take part in the elections in single-mandate constituencies even in the regions where Yabloko’s lists have been removed: 13 candidates in St. Petersburg and 12 in Karelia.