Russian court bars only anti-war party from standing in parliamentary elections

What the report says

Russia’s Yabloko party, described by BBC World News as the country’s only registered liberal party openly opposing the war in Ukraine, has been barred by a Moscow court from contesting next month’s parliamentary elections. The ruling follows a case brought by Rodina, a pro-Kremlin nationalist party, and leaves no openly anti-war force on the ballot, according to the BBC.

The BBC reported that the lawsuit accused Yabloko of backing an extremist organisation through material on its website relating to the “international LGBT movement,” which Russia’s Supreme Court labeled extremist in 2023. Rodina also raised a copyright complaint over a quotation from a Soviet-era song, while Russia’s financial monitoring service alleged that the party had received foreign money through intermediaries from countries including Germany and the United States.

Supporters gathered outside the Moscow courthouse during the hearing, waving flags and chanting in protest after the verdict. The BBC said Yabloko had already faced other setbacks, including the removal of some senior figures from the race and a cyberattack linked to its campaign fundraising appeal.

More broadly, the decision underscores the narrowing space for opposition politics in Russia since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Yabloko has long positioned itself around anti-war and anti-repression themes, but it has not won seats in the State Duma since 2003. The BBC said the case may also affect turnout and the Kremlin’s management of an election in which all other participating parties either support the war or avoid criticizing it.