Russia’s Supreme Court Kicks Yabloko Out of Duma Race

In a dramatic courtroom ruling on Monday, Russia’s highest court stripped the liberal Yabloko party of its right to contest next month’s State Duma elections effectively silencing the country’s last registered voice for peace in parliament.

A High-Stakes Hearing That Ended Liberal Hopes

Russia’s Supreme Court on Monday struck down the federal candidate list of the liberal Yabloko party barring it entirely from September’s State Duma elections. The court sided with a lawsuit brought by Rodina, a small nationalist party. Rodina had accused Yabloko of accepting foreign funding, breaching copyright rules, and promoting “extremism.”

The decision eliminates Russia’s oldest liberal political party from the nationwide party-list ballot. Yabloko was also the only registered party running on a pro-peace platform making its removal all the more striking.

Yabloko Vows to Fight Back

Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov immediately said the party would appeal the ruling within the five-day window. Speaking to supporters outside the courthouse, he made clear the party would exhaust every legal avenue to stay in the race.

“We’re being funded by Russian citizens, and we answer to Russian citizens, as well as the Central Election Commission,” Rybakov told the Supreme Court.

Addressing the crowd, he also acknowledged the public hunger for an end to the conflict in Ukraine noting how many people had come out wanting peace and a stop to the loss of lives.

Hundreds Gathered and Were Warned to Leave

Around 500 people lined up outside the Supreme Court in Moscow that morning to show solidarity with Yabloko. The courtroom, however, held only 150. When the ruling came down, the crowd erupted into chants of “Shame! Shame!” and security forces moved in to disperse them.

In footage that quickly circulated online, a police officer issued a pointed warning through a loudspeaker: “You have two minutes to leave. No one will come to get you out of the military enlistment offices afterward.”

The Foreign Funding Claim and a Classified Document

During the hearing, Central Election Commission officials told the court they had uncovered signs that some Yabloko candidates received money from abroad. Financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring had reportedly flagged foreign transfers to several Yabloko candidates in 2025.

Because the relevant Rosfinmonitoring document carried an “official use only” classification, the judges briefly paused proceedings. Yabloko’s legal team had to sign non-disclosure agreements before they could even review the evidence against them.

Rybakov flatly rejected the foreign funding allegations calling them baseless.

The Backstory: From Approval to Disqualification

The ruling marks a sharp reversal of fortune for Yabloko. Just weeks earlier in late July the Central Election Commission had unexpectedly cleared more than 400 Yabloko candidates to contest September’s parliamentary elections. That decision had given the party and its supporters real hope.

Rodina’s lawsuit, filed days later, upended everything. State prosecutors confirmed on Monday that they fully support the effort to remove Yabloko from the ballot.

A Party Under Pressure

Russia’s authorities have spent recent years steadily tightening the space around Yabloko. Several prominent members have been jailed for opposing the war in Ukraine. The party remains the sole officially registered opposition force openly campaigning against the conflict a distinction that has made it a repeated target.

With the Supreme Court’s ruling now in place, Yabloko’s fight to return to the ballot moves to the appeals process and time is running out.