Russia’s Supreme Court takes up lawsuit seeking to remove anti-war Yabloko party from State Duma ballot; hundreds show up to support the party

Hundreds of supporters gathered outside Russia's Supreme Court in Moscow to show their backing for the Yabloko party, which is facing a lawsuit aimed at removing it from the ballot for the State Duma. The Supreme Court hearing commenced around 10:30 a.m., nearly half an hour after its scheduled start time of 10 a.m. Yabloko's leader, Nikolai Rybakov, had previously encouraged supporters to attend the court.

According to a Telegram channel called Slovo Zashchite, a police van had already arrived at the court building at that time. The lawsuit, filed by the Rodina party on August 7, seeks to remove Yabloko from the ballot by questioning the registration of its federal candidate list. Rybakov claimed the lawsuit's primary argument focused on the support Yabloko has received from its followers, citing posts, videos, and likes.

He asserted that these activities had allegedly cost the party's opponents 88 million rubles over the past 10 days, with the total reach reaching 527 million users, which he estimated to be about four and a half times the total number of voters in Russia.