Press Release, 17.09.2026

Photo: Nikolai Rybakov meeting with Yabloko supporters in St. Petersburg

Dear friends,

We are writing to you on the eve of the elections to remind you of the situation as voting begins, how to vote for the Yabloko party, and what we suggest doing where no Yabloko candidates remain on the ballot.

Over the past few weeks, millions of people have heard, understood and supported Yabloko’s platform: that human life is the highest value, and that Russia needs peace, freedom and a life without fear.

It was precisely because of this platform, and its mass support, that Yabloko’s federal list of candidates was removed from the elections, along with dozens of our candidates in single-mandate constituencies.

But despite the removal of Yabloko’s federal list from the State Duma elections, the party continues to take part in the elections in 99 single-mandate constituencies in Moscow, St. Petersburg and 41 other regions, home to almost half of the country’s voters.

In addition, Yabloko candidates are taking part in regional legislative assemblies elections in single-mandate constituencies in St. Petersburg, Karelia, and the Kaliningrad, Pskov, Sverdlovsk and Tomsk Regions, and in the Novgorod Region, by party list as well.

A full list of all Yabloko candidates for the State Duma is available on the party’s website.

Our candidates will be easy to find on the ballot — they are marked as having been put forward by the Yabloko party.

This means that anyone who wants change, who wants to vote for peace and freedom, for a life without fear and repression, will have the chance to do so. To do this, you need to support Yabloko candidates, and only them.

We are observing, once again — for the fourth time now — proposals being discussed to vote by party list for any party other than United Russia, and, in many single-mandate constituencies, for the candidates those parties have put forward.

Do not deceive yourselves. Supporting any of the ten parties remaining on the ballot following the removal of Yabloko’s list, or supporting the candidates they have put forward in the constituencies, is not a protest — it is unambiguous support for current policies and a vote for their continuation.

After all, it was precisely these five parliamentary parties that voted unanimously in the State Duma for the laws that have brought our country to its current situation, including repressive, militaristic and prohibitive laws. All five “non-parliamentary” parties included on the ballot have supported this same policy. During the election campaign, their representatives filed complaints against Yabloko in court, after which our lists and candidates were removed from the elections.

Voting for any party by list in the State Duma election is your own personal vote in support of aggression, in support of prison sentences for our friends and colleagues. Do not try to reassure yourself otherwise — the authorities will take it exactly that way: as support for their policies.

In a situation where every party remaining on the ballot supports the same policies, it makes no difference whatsoever how the Duma seats are divided up among them.

Only one thing matters: how many people speak out in this election against these policies — by declining to support the parties remaining on the ballot and the candidates they have put forward.

That is why, under present circumstances, only one ethically and politically sound course of action remains for participating in these elections:

– in constituency voting for the State Duma and in the regional elections — vote for Yabloko candidates in those constituencies where they remain, and, where none remain, do not vote for any of the candidates put forward by other parties;

– in party-list voting for the State Duma — do not vote for any party (a ballot paper on which several marks are made is deemed invalid and is counted separately in the final protocol, rather than being redistributed in favour of any party);

– in the Novgorod Regional Duma election — vote for the Yabloko list.

This is the only way, in the upcoming elections, to express support for the position of peace and freedom, for a life without fear, for a ceasefire agreement, diplomacy and the achievement of peace, and for the preservation of life, and for human respect, dignity and wellbeing.

This is the only way, in the upcoming elections, to support the prevention of nuclear war and the building of a prosperous, democratic Russia.

Vote your conscience! Be honest, decent and free people.

Nikolai Rybakov

Chairman of the Yabloko party