Yabloko leader barred from Russia’s upcoming elections after extremism conviction

A court in St. Petersburg has found the chairman of Russian liberal party Yabloko guilty of “displaying extremist symbols” over a photograph he posted of the late opposition politician Alexey Navalny, independent media outlet Bumaga reported on Thursday.

Nikolay Rybakov, who had led Yabloko since 2019, posted the image alongside a message of condolence to Navalny’s friends and family shortly after the politician’s death in an Arctic penal colony in February 2024.

As a result of his conviction, Rybakov will be ineligible to stand in next year’s elections due to a blanket ban on anybody found guilty of extremism running for office for a year thereafter.

Rybakov denounced the court’s decision as an attack on Russian democracy, calling the ruling an attempt to “deprive you of your right to vote, your right to an alternative, your right to a future”, and indicating that he would be challenging the decision.

This is not the first time that a Yabloko politician has been prevented from taking part in a Russian election — in November, Olga Shtannikova, a well-known member of St. Petersburg’s Legislative Assembly, was convicted of the same crime over a 13-year-old post she made about corruption. 

Yabloko has been subject to increasing pressure in recent months, with several of its leading figures targeted by the Kremlin. It remains to be seen if the party will be allowed to participate in next year’s elections, which are due to take place by September 2026. 

Founded in 1993, Yabloko has been a steadfast proponent of social democratic values and human rights and has been a vocal critic of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. While the party’s influence has waned over time, Yabloko’s continued existence has a deep symbolic value for domestic opponents to Vladimir Putin’s regime.