The Supreme Court of Russia has banned the anti-war party Yabloko from running in the State Duma elections. Grigory Yavlinsky, the leader of the party, argues that the decision indicates the Kremlin administration’s fear of losing the vote.
The party intended to run with a program called “For Peace and Freedom”. The members of Yabloko advocate for armistice, diplomacy and peace, as well as against nuclear war and political repression.
“The disqualification of a party with such a program, without any real justification, is a self-indictment of the political system. This decision says a lot about the importance of our program. Much more than any official election results. Obviously, the demand to establish peace and freedom is today much stronger than the authorities anticipated”, Yavlinsky believes.
Another party, “Rodina”, has demanded the removal of Yabloko from the elections, accusing them of copyright infringement in the campaign and the use of extremist slogans, writes Meduza. One of the founders of “Rodina” is the former head of Roskosmos, Dmitri Rogozin.
As much as Putin’s administration in Moscow is trying to secure victory in the State Duma elections, which could be followed by a new wave of mobilization, two popular bloggers in Russia are promoting Iabloko from Anenii Noi.
The symbol of the village of Mereni, an apple of 2.5 meters and 300 kg, located at the entrance to the locality in the Anenii Noi district, was used by Nekoglai and Dania Milohin to support the Yabloko party.
From Russian, “Iabloko” translates as apple. The two young people filmed themselves dancing in front of the symbol in Anenii Noi and conveyed the message “Iabloko forward”.
Nekoglai is the young Moldovan who, in November 2022, while in Moscow, published a TikTok clip in which he imitated a Russian soldier in a trench, upon whom grenades were falling. For this video, he was expelled.
Dania Milohiv is a Russian singer and TikToker, who chose to leave his country after the war in Ukraine began. According to cancan.md, pro-Kremlin activists have demanded that he be given the status of a “foreign agent”.