Russia’s Supreme Court removes nation’s only antiwar party from upcoming parliamentary race

The Yabloko party, which is the sole antiwar political group currently on the ballot, has been barred from participation in the upcoming parliamentary election. Judge Vyacheslav Kirillov ruled in favor of a lawsuit filed by the Rodina party, alleging that Yabloko's campaign materials breached copyright and employed "extremist" slogans.

Yabloko officials have pledged to appeal the decision. Outside the courthouse, supporters of the party expressed their disapproval by shouting "Shame!" The Rodina party's legal action claimed that Yabloko's materials were in violation of copyright and contained extremist rhetoric. During the court hearing, a representative of the Central Election Commission brought up statistics from Russia's Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) which showed that Yabloko has received foreign funding.

Yabloko countered this by explaining that the funds stem from the sale of foreign shares, a requirement under Russian law for them to divest before standing in elections.