On August 10, the Supreme Court removed Yabloko, a party that had already been registered to run in the State Duma elections, from the race. The decision came after several weeks of rapidly growing online interest in the party and a surge in its audience. Why was Yabloko removed from the election, and what can its supporters do now? Find out in this article by 7x7.
“May There Always Be Sunshine,” LGBTQ+, and Hiroshima: why was Yabloko removed from the election?
The lawsuit seeking to remove Yabloko from the election was filed by the pro-government party Rodina. It accused Yabloko of copyright infringement, citing, for example, its use of a photograph of bombed-out Hiroshima and a line from the Soviet song “May There Always Be Sunshine.”
Rodina also claimed that Yabloko's campaign was subject to foreign influence, including influence from “foreign agents.” The plaintiffs also pointed to Yabloko's statements in support of LGBTQ+ people and described the party's demand to end the war in Ukraine as “extremism.”
Another complaint concerned the candidates' documents. Rodina questioned why 218 of Yabloko's 269 candidates had obtained certificates confirming that they held no foreign bank accounts even before they were nominated to run.
Photo: Yabloko party press service
“The plaintiff mistook the court for a talk show”: how the hearing went
During the hearing, Yabloko chairman Nikolay Rybakov compared Rodina's lawsuit to television propaganda.
“The plaintiff mistook the Supreme Court courtroom for a television talk show, where loud slogans, labels such as ‘extremism,’ and subjective associations take the place of the law,” he said.
Photo: Yabloko party press service
According to Rybakov, Rodina was effectively asking the Supreme Court to reject the Constitution. Yabloko representatives also challenged specific claims made in the lawsuit. Mikhail Ostrovsky, the son of the composer who wrote the music for “May There Always Be Sunshine,” weighed in on the dispute over the rights to the phrase. He said Yabloko had his permission to use the song in its campaign.
“I have absolutely no objection to Yabloko using ‘May There Always Be Sunshine’ in its campaign. I give them my permission. Not only because Yabloko's agenda resonates with me, but also because I want my father's songs to be remembered. Thank you for bringing them to people,” Ostrovsky said.
Yabloko supporters remained outside the Supreme Court building while the hearing was underway. Around 500 people gathered there that morning. They campaigned for the party and drew Yabloko symbols and Russian flags on the pavement. A group of young people released a balloon bearing the words “For Peace and Freedom.”
Later, a car drove past the court with IOWA and Yolka's song “Yabloko” (“Apple”) playing loudly. People in the crowd ran up to the car and shook the driver's hand.
Journalists and Yabloko supporters who managed to get into the courtroom. Photo: Yabloko party press service
“Spontaneous anti-war frenzy”: how Yabloko’s popularity grew before the hearing
In August, Yabloko became the most popular political party on Telegram. On August 6, its channel had 107,000 subscribers, and by August 10, that number had exceeded 194,000. According to the Atlas of Elections project, over the course of just two weeks, posts about Yabloko began receiving 4.5 times as many likes, comments, and shares as before.
The party began gaining popularity after the start of its election campaign. The persecution of its members also contributed to the growing attention. Several regional candidates were unable to run in the election because they had been fined under the law banning extremist symbols. Criminal cases were opened against prominent Yabloko politicians Lev Shlosberg and Maksim Kruglov.
On August 10, the media outlet Mozhem Obyasnit (“We Can Explain”) reported that Yabloko was also leading polls conducted by local Telegram channels and social media groups, which asked people who they planned to vote for. In Zelenograd, the poll was conducted twice to rule out manipulation, but Yabloko came first both times.
Political scientist Ekaterina Shulman pointed out that such polls are not representative because only subscribers to specific channels take part in them. Nevertheless, she suggested that Yabloko's mere presence on the ballot had already changed the dynamics of the election.
“It is funny to think that if they have to remove Yabloko through the courts amid a scandal, this could turn out to be Kirienko's last shady scheme. And if the Presidential Domestic Policy Directorate [a Kremlin body overseeing domestic politics] pushes through Yabloko's participation and the party gets too many votes, they will have to take votes away from it amid a scandal, and that could also turn out to be their last shady scheme.”
Political scientists Alexander Kynev and Ivan Preobrazhensky also linked the situation surrounding Yabloko to its growing support. “This is one of those cases where a wave of support for one party <...> becomes so conspicuously defiant that it inevitably provokes a response,” Kynev said. Preobrazhensky described Yabloko supporters as perhaps the broadest coalition of opponents of Putin's regime in a long time.
A line outside the Russian Supreme Court building. Photo: Yabloko party press service
Stay home or spoil the ballot: what will Yabloko supporters do next
In an interview with 7x7, historian and publicist Ilya Budraitskis said that Yabloko had attracted not only voters who directly supported the party's platform, but also Russians who were simply tired of the war.
“If Yabloko is removed from the election, these people, who in fact make up a very large group, perhaps between 25% and 40% of the country's population, will look for other ways to express their position. In the context of the upcoming election, there are only two legal ways to do so. The first is to vote for parties opposed to United Russia. The second is not to vote at all, because the outcome has already been predetermined. And I think the majority of those who might otherwise have voted for Yabloko will choose the latter,” Budraitskis said.
The historian suggested that New People and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) could offer voters an alternative because some of their values are close to democratic ones. For example, both parties oppose internet blocking. “But there are no avenues for public political participation in the country, and this enormous demand for peace and an end to repression will remain a passive mass sentiment that finds no political expression,” he concluded.
Yabloko supporters chanting the party's name and “Russia” outside the Supreme Court. Photo: Slovo Zashchite
Economist and sociologist Vladislav Inozemtsev told 7x7 that he did not expect Yabloko's removal from the election to trigger large-scale protests. In his view, the party's leadership is unlikely to call on its supporters to launch a protest campaign or engage in civil disobedience.
“As for their voters, I would bet that they are more likely either to stay home or spoil their ballots. There has been so much emphasis on the fundamental differences between Yabloko and all the other parties that I don't think New People or A Just Russia will be able to attract Yabloko voters,” he said.
In the chat accompanying the YouTube livestream of the hearing, viewers posted messages such as “Peace is more important than war” and “Vote for peace.” On social media, Yabloko supporters are debating whether there is any point in participating in the election at all now that the party has been removed.
