Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky Court has sentenced Yabloko deputy chair Maxim Kruglov to seven years in a general-regime penal colony in a case over the alleged spread of so-called fake information about the Russian army. Prosecutors had earlier asked the court to give him eight years in prison.
The criminal case against Kruglov was opened in autumn 2025. He has been held in custody since October. The prosecution was based on two public posts.
In one of them, the politician wrote about war crimes in Bucha. In the other, he published a photo of devastated Mariupol and referred to civilians killed there, citing UN data.
Kruglov did not admit guilt. Witnesses for the prosecution included an employee of GBU Zhilishchnik, who initially introduced himself as a political analyst, and a supporter of the Young Guard of United Russia.
In his final statement, Kruglov called the events that led him to publish the posts “hell”: “This is hell, it is impossible to stay silent about it, an investigation is necessary. How can this be called the dissemination of knowingly false information?”
Relatives, friends and political allies came to hear the verdict. Among those present was Grigory Yavlinsky, the former chairman and founder of Yabloko.
Kruglov serves as the party’s deputy chair and led Yabloko’s faction in the Moscow City Duma from 2019 to 2024. He also taught comparative politics at the State Academic University for the Humanities.