Yabloko, one of Russia’s oldest parties, remains a rare legal political group that has publicly opposed the full-scale war, raised money for political prisoners, and never recognized the annexation of Crimea. Yet as the 2026 elections approach, it is doing so with historically weak representation: according to the party, it now has only a handful of deputies left in St. Petersburg, the Pskov region, Karelia, several city councils, and municipal bodies.
At the same time, the party still has financial resources. According to Kontur.Focus, Yabloko’s spending in 2024 exceeded 190 million rubles, while in 2024 and the first quarter of 2025 it received 41 million rubles in donations. A party source told Novaya Gazeta Europe that Yabloko plans to field both a federal party list and single-mandate candidates, treating the campaign above all as a chance to speak loudly for peace and freedom.
Sources interviewed by the outlet say the party’s main goal now is simply to survive the current period. Pressure is also increasing: Maksim Kruglov and Konstantin Smirnov remain in custody, party chairman Nikolai Rybakov has been charged over posting a photograph of Alexei Navalny, and several senior figures have been labeled “foreign agents.” According to OVD-Info, there have been 25 known cases of persecution involving current and former Yabloko members; 17 are ongoing, and six people are imprisoned.
Former and current associates also point to organizational weaknesses. After the 2025 municipal elections in Podolsk, Yabloko lost its last local deputy in the Moscow region and with it the right to nominate a regional party list without collecting signatures. To take part in the regional race now, it would need more than 30,000 signatures for the party list and around 10,000 for each of the 25 single-mandate districts.
“In wartime elections, the point is not specific candidates but the chance to speak loudly for peace and freedom,” a Yabloko source told the publication.
According to the sources, even without direct administrative barriers the party is hindered by a кадровый crisis, weak campaign preparation, and disputes over how money is spent. Political consultants interviewed by the outlet do not rule out that by 2026 the space for a “party of peace” may narrow even further, and that the authorities will try to keep both Yabloko and other actors with a similar message out of the race.