The Rodina party has filed a lawsuit with Russia's Supreme Court seeking to remove the Yabloko party from the State Duma election ballot, TASS reported, citing Rodina leader and State Duma deputy Alexei Zhuravlev. The Supreme Court's press service confirmed receipt of the lawsuit to TASS and Kommersant.
The specific grievances in the lawsuit were not disclosed. Zhuravlev said the party had found a "mass of violations" by Yabloko, primarily related to financing, but provided no details. He has previously called Yabloko members "national traitors" and claimed the party's campaign is funded with "Western money," suggesting that Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his "Western patrons" could be behind it. Zhuravlev also said Yabloko was unlikely to "reach the finish line" of the election campaign.
The Central Election Commission registered Yabloko's list for the autumn elections on July 29. The party is running under the slogan "For Peace and Freedom." At the registration, Zhuravlev accused Yabloko candidates of never having visited the "special military operation" zone. Criticism of the party was also joined by Sergei Mironov, leader of A Just Russia, and LDPR leader Leonid Slutsky, who called for Yabloko to be declared an "undesirable organization."
In support of Yabloko in these elections, representatives of the Russian opposition abroad, including Yulia Navalnaya, Ilya Yashin, Lyubov Sobol, and others, spoke out. The party distanced itself from these statements, noting that public support from abroad could lead to candidates being removed from the ballot.
Earlier, several Yabloko candidates were denied registration for the St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly elections, and then the party's entire list was denied registration. Yabloko was also barred from the Petrozavodsk city council elections.