Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Russia’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered Yabloko, the only registered party opposing the Kremlin’s military action in Ukraine, to be removed from the ballot for next month’s parliamentary election. The court annulled the party’s registration after an appeal by the Kremlin-aligned Motherland Party, even though the Central Election Commission had last month cleared Yabloko to contest along with 10 other parties.
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Once a leading liberal voice in the State Duma and often critical of the government, Yabloko later lost its bloc of seats as the Kremlin tightened its grip on Russian politics. In recent years, it remained the only registered opposition party to oppose sending troops into Ukraine, campaigning with the slogans: “For a ceasefire agreement, diplomacy and peace!” “Our goal is to prevent nuclear war!” and “For a Russia free from fear and political repressions!”
Veteran liberal politician Grigory Yavlinsky, who co-founded Yabloko in the 1990s and chairs its political committee, condemned the ruling and said the party would appeal. In an online statement, he said, “Barring Yabloko from the election means a refusal to engage in dialogue with those who ask questions that make the authorities uncomfortable.” He added, “We hope the authorities will heed the public demand for peace, freedom, and life without fear, and change their policy.”
Yabloko’s anti-war platform had drawn support from several Russian opposition figures living in exile, including Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny, and politicians Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza. In an August 6 statement on Telegram, Navalnaya said, “I believe it’s morally and politically right to support the Yabloko party,” citing its anti-war position.
Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov, who was in court on Monday, tried to distance the party from what he called unwarranted support from Navalnaya and other Kremlin critics abroad, in what appeared to be an effort to prevent its removal from the ballot. Social media was also filled with videos backing Yabloko, many of them without political slogans and instead showing young men and women holding apples when asked about their voting choice for the September 18-20 election, or dancing to Russian songs referring to apples. Rybakov told the court the party was not paying for the videos, saying those posting them supported Yabloko “simply because they want to live in Russia and don’t want to get killed.” A crowd of supporters applauded Rybakov and other party representatives as they entered the courthouse in central Moscow.
Nikolay Petrov, a senior research fellow at the NEST Centre founded by exiled tycoon and opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky, said the authorities had likely first allowed Yabloko on the ballot to offer voters an outlet for discontent while expecting the party’s traditionally low vote share to show that few backed its position on Ukraine. But, he said, Yabloko’s peace campaign resonated and upset the Kremlin’s calculations. Now, he said, “the Kremlin is facing a rather difficult task, to come out of the situation with minimal losses,” because removing the party from the ballot is effectively “demonstrating that they’re afraid of what Yabloko stands for.” Yavlinsky said the ruling “speaks volumes about the importance of our platform – far more than any official election results ever could,” and added that “the public demand for peace and freedom today has proven far stronger than the authorities anticipated.”
Several Kremlin-aligned parties had attacked Yabloko over its stand on Ukraine and some called for an investigation. A Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov urged the Prosecutor General’s Office and the Justice Ministry to “look closely” at Yabloko and “give a legal assessment to their actions.” He said, “A party that openly opposes the special military operation, promises a shameful peace, and supports foreign agents is running for the State Duma.” Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov said Yabloko was not backing President Vladimir Putin’s policies and had not helped “those suffering, those fighting on the front line.” In its lawsuit, Motherland accused Yabloko of copyright infringement and overspending in its campaign, and also argued that the party’s position on Ukraine was unlawful and amounted to calling for the violation of Russia’s territorial integrity. Rybakov and the party’s lawyers rejected the allegations in court.
Yabloko has faced growing pressure in recent years as the Kremlin deepened its crackdown on dissent. Several prominent members have been jailed or labelled “foreign agents”, a designation that brings extra state scrutiny and is used to discredit those targeted. As a result, some of its best-known figures were not on the party list. Deputy chairman and former Moscow city council member Maxim Kruglov was convicted in June of spreading false information about the Russian army and sentenced to seven years in prison. Another senior member, Lev Shlosberg, is on trial in Pskov on similar charges and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. It is the third criminal case against him in the past two years, and he has also been declared a “foreign agent.” Boris Vishnevsky, another deputy chairman, was given the same label in 2024 and later stepped down from the St Petersburg city council after a law barred “foreign agents” from contesting elections or holding public office.
The court’s order has removed Yabloko, the only registered anti-war opposition party, from Russia’s parliamentary election after a campaign that drew support from opposition figures and online backers, while also prompting strong criticism from Kremlin-aligned parties and renewed attention to the pressure faced by its leaders and members.
With PTI Inputs
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
