‘I’ll Break Your Head’: Russian Anti-War Candidate Gets Death Threats Ahead of Elections
Kirill Rumyantsev, a candidate for Russia's State Duma from the anti-war Yabloko party, says he and his family have received death threats and demands that he withdraw from the election. He filed a police report and said he would remain in the race despite the threats.
A Russian anti-war opposition candidate and deputy head of the Yabloko party's Saratov branch, Kirill Rumyantsev, has received death threats and pressure to withdraw from the September State Duma elections. The threats began on August 6 and were delivered via phone and messaging apps, according to The Moscow Times. Rumyantsev has published screenshots of the threatening messages on his Telegram channel, and he has filed a police report.
He stated that he has no intention of withdrawing his candidacy. Another unidentified caller demanded that he quit the election and threatened him and his family, including the possibility of planting drugs on him. Rumyantsev has no personal conflicts that could explain the threats and argues that his political activity should not be used to justify intimidation.
The threats come as Yabloko faces growing political pressure ahead of Russia's parliamentary elections. Several other Russian political parties have criticized Yabloko, and Rodina party leader Alexei Zhuravlyov has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn Yabloko's admission to the elections. Prominent opposition figures living abroad have urged Russians to vote for Yabloko, while Yabloko leader Nikolai Rybakov has distanced the party from those appeals.
Yabloko is one of Russia's few established political parties to have openly opposed the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Rumyantsev himself has faced pressure over anti-war activism in the past.
Written by urgent.news from Kyiv Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
