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Russian court bars Yabloko, Russia’s only liberal anti-war party, from parliamentary elections
World·Short term·▲ +2%

Yabloko’s ban will intensify international scrutiny of Russia’s parliamentary vote as opposition options shrink further.

Removing the only explicitly anti-war electoral option further narrows Russia’s political space and signals how “extremism” designations are being used to police opposition. The move is likely to reverberate internationally as another marker of managed elections.

AI reasoning

Removing the only explicitly anti-war electoral option further narrows Russia’s political space and signals how “extremism” designations are being used to police opposition. The move is likely to reverberate internationally as another marker of managed elections.

Curated summary

A Moscow court ruled that Yabloko, described as Russia’s only liberal, anti-war party, cannot run in next month’s parliamentary elections, according to BBC News. The case was brought by Rodina, a pro-Kremlin nationalist party. Rodina accused Yabloko of backing an extremist group by supporting the international LGBT movement—labeled extremist by Russia’s Supreme Court in 2023—and of copyright infringement over a Soviet song quote. Russia’s financial monitoring service also said Yabloko received foreign money through third parties from Germany and the U.S. Hundreds of mostly young supporters gathered outside the courthouse, singing and waving flags; after the verdict, many chanted “Shame! Shame!”

Supporting evidence

Source news

Russian court bars Yabloko, Russia’s only liberal anti-war party, from parliamentary elections

The case was brought by pro-Kremlin Rodina; supporters gathered outside court chanting “Shame!”

BBC News·3h ago
Read full article at BBC News
RussiaYablokoelectionsRodinaLGBT movementpolitical rights

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