The expression “the party of swindlers and thieves” has been widely used by all forces and individuals in the opposition referring to Vladimir Putin’s party.
The Sverdlovsk District Court in Kostroma has fined activist and former candidate of the “Yabloko” party for the State Duma, Andrei Tarasov, one thousand rubles for “displaying extremist symbols”, reports RusNews.
The accusation was based on a photograph in which Tarasov was wearing a t-shirt with the slogan “I am against the party of swindlers and thieves” and a drawing depicting a man kicking a bear.
An expert mandated by the Ministry of Internal Affairs justified the qualification of the inscription as “extremist”, invoking the fact that the politician Alexei Navalny would be its author, writes The Moscow Times.
The expert’s conclusion emphasized that the slogan “delegitimizes the ruling party in the eyes of the voters” and “serves to associate it with the opposition.”
A term first used by Boris Nemtsov
The case against Tarasov was opened following a complaint filed by Serghei Șpotin, a representative of the Communist Party who ran in the 2025 elections for the position of governor of the Kostroma region. The Communist expressed his outrage that his party colleagues were being “dragged through the courts,” while “this new liberal gets away scot-free with absolutely anything.”
The “United Russia” party has often been called the “party of swindlers and thieves” in the opposition’s discourse.
This term was first used by the politician Boris Nemtsov on Radio Liberty in 2010, referring to the party in power at that time.
Details, HERE