On a Tuesday in August, Russia's supreme court erased the last remaining anti-war voice from its September ballot, barring Yabloko's entire federal candidate list from standing in parliamentary elections. The ruling, upheld on a challenge from a minor pro-Kremlin party, leaves voters who oppose the war in Ukraine with no legal electoral recourse — a quiet but decisive moment in the long narrowing of Russian political life. What was once a system that tolerated dissent at its margins has now closed even that margin, revealing a state that no longer needs to conceal its consolidation of power.
Russia bans last anti-war party from elections as Kremlin tightens political control
Yabloko activists face prosecution and imprisonment for anti-war speech; party deputy leader sentenced to seven years in prison for social media posts.