Russia's Supreme Court on Monday barred the country's only anti-war party, Yabloko (Apple), from running in September's parliamentary elections. About a hundred protesters gathered outside the courthouse chanting, "Shame! Shame!" after the ruling was delivered.
The court thereby upheld a suit brought by a pro-Kremlin nationalist party, stripping voters opposed to the four-and-a-half-year war in Ukraine of their last option on the ballot.
"The claims seeking to annul the registration of the federal list of candidates for the State Duma of the ninth convocation, nominated by the Yabloko political party, were granted," judge Vyacheslav Kirillov said.
About a hundred supporters, mostly young people, gathered outside the courthouse, chanting "Shame! Shame!" after the ruling was delivered.
Addressing them after the hearing, Yabloko leader Nikolay Rybakov said the party would appeal the decision.
"We have a long way ahead and we have a big and important task: to stop deaths and bring the peace back," he said.
"Everything we do should be dedicated to that," Rybakov added.
Putin opponents jailed, exiled or dead
Russia opened a criminal case in 2024 against Yabloko's Lev Shlosberg, one of the few remaining anti-war Kremlin critics still in the country. He was charged again in 2025 for allegedly spreading false information about Russia's army, a new charge announced three days before he was to be released from house arrest.
With most of President Vladimir Putin's opponents jailed, exiled or dead, Yabloko is the only liberal party still operating in Russia.
Read moreThe mysterious fates met by Putin critics
The party has received the backing of several exiled opposition figures, including Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Both are listed as "extremists" in Russia.
A poll conducted earlier this year showed Yabloko ("apple" in Russian) at just 3 percent support – short of the 5-percent threshold needed to enter Russia's lower house.
With the Kremlin tightening its control over elections, Yabloko has failed to win seats in the State Duma since 2003.
Since then, every parliamentary vote has been won by the ruling United Russia party, which backs Putin.
Efforts to end the Ukraine war through diplomacy have so far failed, with Putin pushing hardline territorial demands to end the fighting and ruling out talks with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Independent polls show most Russians favour peace negotiations with Kyiv.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP)
