The leader of the only anti-war party registered in Russia said he would stay in his homeland and continue to fight for change despite increased pressure from the authorities, which led to the political formation being excluded from the upcoming parliamentary elections, Reuters reported, quoted by BTA.
Russia's Supreme Court on Monday ordered the post-Soviet liberal party “Yabloko“ not to be allowed to participate in the vote scheduled for September. Its leader, Nikolai Rybakov, told Reuters that the decision showed the authorities' concerns that his call for an end to the more than four-year war in Ukraine was resonating with voters.
“For us, the support of the people, which is completely obvious and cannot be hidden, is far more important than the court decision,“ Rybakov said in an interview at Yabloko“s headquarters in Moscow. He recalled how, after the verdict, hundreds of his party supporters took to the streets and chanted “Shame!“ loud enough for their cries to be heard in court.
“Yabloko“ It has only a few seats in regional legislatures and no deputies in the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, which is controlled by the Putin-backed United Russia party.
Elections in September will elect members of the 450-seat State Duma.
United Russia is almost certain to retain its dominant position, although Rybakov said Yabloko would be a stronger contender than expected if it were allowed to run.
Yabloko is appealing a Supreme Court ruling in a lawsuit that alleges, among other things, that the party received undeclared campaign funding from Western donors. Yabloko denies receiving money from abroad.
“I tell everyone that this is just the beginning, because many people have started to pay attention,“ said Rybakov in his office, where a poster reads: “People, don't kill each other“.
“One of the things the authorities would really like is for people to lose faith, to come to the conclusion that they are alone and that there is no one around them who thinks the same way as them,“ Rybakov added.
The 47-year-old opposition veteran said he had no intention of leaving Russia despite strict censorship laws and other wartime legislative measures that have forced many opposition figures and activists to flee or risk persecution for expressing anti-war views or other forms of disagreement.
“I am in Russia and I will stay in Russia“, emphasized Rybakov, who wore a dove of peace badge on his lapel. “To change what is happening in Russia, to change the political situation in Russia, is possible only if you are in the country itself“, he added.
It is difficult to assess the extent of public opposition to the war because of the strict control exercised over dissidents, Reuters notes. But according to a sociological survey, the share of Russians who say they support the actions of their armed forces in Ukraine fell to 66% in July – the lowest level since February 2022. The data comes from the “Levada Center“, a non-governmental public opinion polling organization that is on Moscow's list of foreign agents.
Rybakov noted that “Yabloko“'s short election program, calling for peace and a prosperous democratic Russia, had “attracted many new supporters, which shows that a significant part of Russian society wants the war to end“.
“You can not allow “Yabloko“ in certain places, you can use various methods of coercion against our party members and against our party leaders, but you can do nothing against these millions of people who think the same way as us,“ Rybakov said.