In an open letter to Ella Pamfilova, head of Russia's Central Election Commission (CEC), Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov demanded that she acknowledge the absurdity of the Supreme Court's ruling that removed his party from the State Duma election, and either restore its registration or push for the removal of all other parties.
Rybakov gave Pamfilova a choice: either admit that the accusations against Yabloko are absurd and keep the party's registration in force, or have the CEC go all the way and seek through the courts the removal of all other parties. He also urged Pamfilova to attend the Supreme Court hearing of the appeal, noting that she has "repeatedly stated that this election would ensure competition and guarantee equality for different political forces."
The Supreme Court ruled to remove Yabloko from the election on August 10. One of the grounds was that the party received 16,900 rubles in donations from "citizens who allegedly received funds from abroad." Other grounds included copyright violations in campaign materials and unpaid advertising in media and social networks.
According to the Anti-Corruption Policy Center at Yabloko, five parliamentary parties received at least 1 billion 153 million rubles from donors "with traces of foreign financing." The largest share of such donations went to United Russia, which received over 811 million rubles. The party's donors are linked to more than 50 countries, 22 of which Russian authorities consider "unfriendly."
Using the same criteria that led to Yabloko's removal, violations were found in other parties as well. For example, United Russia used video footage owned by TASS and VGTRK in its campaign materials, while Rodina, whose lawsuit led to Yabloko's removal, published content with the logos of Izvestia and Channel One.