St. Petersburg fines Yabloko party leader Nikolai Rybakov over slogans — The Moscow Times

The Vyborg District Court of St. Petersburg, Russia — an aggressor state — fined Yabloko party leader Nikolai Rybakov 1,000 rubles for inscriptions on ballots during State Duma elections. The court found the politician guilty of minor hooliganism, The Moscow Times reports.

Inscriptions on ballots

On September 20, Rybakov wrote four party slogans on ballots: “For peace,” “For freedom,” “For a life without fear,” and “For a ceasefire agreement.” Police accused him of ignoring public interests, showing disrespect, and violating public order.

Rybakov and his lawyers asked for the proceedings to be terminated. They argued that spoiling a ballot is a lawful form of political expression. At a previous hearing, the politician said that he could not vote because there were no candidates for whom he could cast his ballot. According to him, more than 900,000 voters also invalidated their ballots.

More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.

Rybakov was not present when the decision was announced. The hearing was briefly interrupted due to an evacuation order.

Pressure on the party

Yabloko was the only registered party that campaigned for peace in the 2026 State Duma elections. The publication notes that Rybakov’s case is being heard amid increased pressure on the party: over the past four months, three of its prominent members have received prison sentences, with Yelena Perepelitsa being the latest.

Yabloko candidates were widely barred from the September 18–20 elections, in which the United Russia party won a record majority in the State Duma. The party’s candidates also faced interference by the authorities, police detentions, and disqualifications in single-member districts. Yabloko was excluded from almost all regional elections; only in Novgorod Oblast did the party overcome the five-percent threshold to gain seats in the regional parliament.