Maxim Kruglov in pretrial detention in Moscow. Photo: SOTA
A Moscow opposition politician who is currently in police detention awaiting trial for spreading false information about the Russian military has repeatedly been offered his release if he enlists with the Russian army to fight in Ukraine, his lawyer said on Wednesday.
Maxim Kruglov, the former deputy head of the Moscow branch of Yabloko, one of Russia’s last remaining opposition parties, has been offered his release in exchange for military service in Ukraine at least 10 times since the beginning of the year, his lawyer Natalya Tikhonova said.
Kruglov, who has been in pretrial detention since October, would never “join the military in any capacity”, Tikhonova said in her post, noting her client’s strong opposition to the war in Ukraine and the fact that Kruglov has been legally disqualified from military service anyway since the state deemed him “prone to extremism”.
Kruglov was arrested on 1 October for two posts he made about Russian military atrocities in the Kyiv suburb of Bucha on his Telegram channel in April 2022. According to Russia’s Investigative Committee, the posts constituted the spreading of false information about the Russian military, which was made illegal shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Kruglov, who could face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty, was until recently the deputy leader of the Moscow branch of Yabloko, a once electorally significant liberal party founded in 1993 that has seen a sharp decline in support since its heyday, now holding no seats in the State Duma and having just a handful of regional deputies in Russia’s northwest.
In December, the party’s leader, Nikolay Rybakov, was barred from running in the 2026 State Duma elections after he posted a tribute to late Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny.
