Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he does not consider the liberal Yabloko party a real political party, calling it 'nothing more than a cell' in an interview with The Washington Post about pressure on anti-war politicians ahead of the State Duma elections.
Peskov said that those who break the law face pressure, while those who do not can freely express their opinions. He added that he would not call Yabloko a party.
Yabloko is a registered political party founded in 1993. Its deputies sat in the State Duma until 2007, and dozens of its politicians currently serve in regional and municipal legislatures. In 2026, the party is running for the State Duma under the slogan 'For peace and freedom! For a life without fear!'.
Ahead of the elections, the party is facing obstacles. In St. Petersburg, nearly half of its candidates risk being barred due to allegedly missing documents — the candidates themselves say they lost nothing. In Karelia, authorities are seeking to cancel the party's list registration through the courts.
More than ten party members, including its chairman Nikolai Rybakov, have been punished under an article on displaying extremist symbols — which bars them from running. In three regions, the party has already been denied registration of its lists for local elections.
The Central Election Commission (CEC) certified Yabloko's federal list for the State Duma elections on July 10, when it contained 274 candidates. However, the CEC has still not registered the list. Under the law, a party can be removed from the ballot if more than a quarter of its federal list candidates drop out.
Political analyst Alexander Kynev believes Yabloko will be allowed to run only if it refrains from an active campaign — and then the authorities can use it as a spoiler for the New People party. In his view, the final 1–1.5% of the vote for Yabloko is what New People will lose.
Political analyst Andrei Kolesnikov expressed confidence that Russian authorities do not intend to give anti-war politicians a platform in the elections.