Russian Supreme Court Reviews Lawsuit to Bar Yabloko Party from Elections
Supreme Court Case and Political Context
Background of the Lawsuit
LONDON, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Russia's Supreme Court will consider a lawsuit to bar Yabloko, the only party which opposes Moscow's war in Ukraine, from contesting parliamentary elections in September, the state TASS news agency reported on Friday.
The lawsuit, which will be considered by the court on Monday, was filed by Rodina (Motherland), a small pro-Kremlin nationalist party whose leader Alexei Zhuravlev told TASS that Yabloko was a Western-backed movement bent on discrediting the elections and Russia itself.
Yabloko’s Response to Allegations
Yabloko accused Zhuravlev of making defamatory statements against it and said it would file its own suit to protect its reputation.
"They want to remove us from the elections because we stand for peace, whereas they want to prolong the tragedy (of the war) indefinitely," Yabloko leader Nikolai Rybakov said on Telegram.
Political Landscape and Election Outlook
The dominant United Russia party, which backs President Vladimir Putin, is expected to win the elections easily and other broadly pro-Kremlin parties to win re-election. But the authorities have acted to curb voices opposed to the war at a time when they say Russia needs to be united in the face of a largely hostile West.
Kremlin’s Position on the War
The Kremlin says Russia is ready to end the fighting if its own terms to do so - described as amounting to capitulation by Ukraine - are accepted. Boris Nadezhdin, a politician who had attempted to run for parliament on an anti-war platform, was designated as a "foreign agent" last month. He has since fled the country.
Reporting and Editorial Credits
(Reporting by Reuters, writing by Mark Trevelyan Editing by Andrew Osborn)
