Russia maintains election ban on opposition Yabloko, jails deputy head Supreme Court ruling supports Kremlin’s clampdown ahead of September’s parliamentary vote. Russia’s top court has rejected an appeal by the anti-war Yabloko party against a recent ruling banning it from taking part in upcoming elections, while another court jailed its deputy leader for 11 years.

The opposition party confirmed on Monday that its appeal had failed. Opposition activists said the ban is evidence of the increasing erosion of Russia’s democracy and an attempt to silence opposition to the war in Ukraine. Recommended Storieslist of 2 items - list 1 of 2Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,317 - list 2 of 2Russia bars only party opposing war in Ukraine from parliamentary vote The Supreme Court handed down the ban last week, removing the only registered political party calling for an end to the Russia-Ukraine war from the ballot in September’s parliamentary vote.

“The Appeals Chamber of the Supreme Court upheld the court’s decision to revoke the registration of Yabloko’s federal list of candidates for the State Duma elections,” the party said in a statement on Monday, adding that it would seek a supervisory review.

The case against Yabloko was filed by Rodina, a small pro-Kremlin nationalist party, which accused Yabloko of being backed by Western countries and seeking to undermine both the election process and Russia itself. Yabloko rejected the accusations, saying the party represented the views of millions of Russians and the ban effectively stripped away the only option for people opposed to the Ukraine war.

Deputy leader jailed On the same day as the party lost its appeal, another court sentenced Yabloko’s deputy leader Lev Shlosberg to 11 years and one month in a penal colony for his opposition to the war in Ukraine. Shlosberg was found guilty of harming the reputation of Russia’s armed forces and lying about them.

The conviction is based on legislation passed since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, which paves the way for lengthy terms for those found guilty of “discrediting” the military or deliberately spreading false information about the war.

As a result, few groups have openly criticised the conflict. But individuals such as Shlosberg, human rights campaigner Oleg Orlov and the late dissident Alexei Navalny spoke out against “tyranny and repression” from the dock with no realistic chance of acquittal.

In a defiant closing speech at the trial, Shlosberg labelled the war as a catastrophe for Russia. “The lives of countless thousands of people have been cut short during this time. Sooner or later, the precise and complete death toll – with names included – will be made public, and the entire nation will shudder at this list of martyrs.

” ‘Intimidation’ Police detained dozens of supporters and journalists who had come to listen to the court decision and took some to nearby police stations. “Many detainees today. We also see that the police officers are very nervous today,” Kirill Goncharov, head of Yabloko’s Moscow branch, told the independent outlet Novaya Gazeta.

In the courtroom, party leader Nikolay Rybakov called the detentions “intimidation”.

Russia’s hybrid war in Europe has already begun, Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics said, following warnings of Moscow’s attempts to intimidate nations supporting Ukraine.

Russia's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the Yabloko party, the sole officially registered party to openly oppose Moscow's war on Ukraine, against its removal from the ballot for September parliamentary elections. In a separate hearing on August 17, a court in the city of Pskov sentenced an outspoken deputy chairman of Yabloko, Lev Shlosberg, to more than 11 years in prison after convicting of him under a law designed to punish critics of the war.

The rulings display the Kremlin's determination to silence dissent, particularly when it comes to the war, and suggest that President Vladimir Putin is unwilling to risk the possibility of a strong showing by a party that is calling for its end. The September 18-20 elections to the State Duma, Russia's upper parliament house, will be the first since Putin launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Yabloko has made the slogan "For Peace and Freedom" central to its Duma campaign. The Central Election Commission unexpectedly registered the party for the balloting, but the Supreme Court sided with a nationalist party that alleged an array of violations including funding from abroad, copyright infringements, and extremism -- which Yabloko called "absurd" -- and barred Yabloko from the election in an August 10 ruling.

At the appeal hearing on August 17, Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov said the case hinged not on technicalities but on the ability of the state to uphold the rule of law in times of crisis. "We, the Yabloko party, demand that the electoral process be brought back into strict compliance with the law," Rybakov told the court.

"We demand respect for the constitution of the Russian Federation. We demand respect for the rights of millions of Russian voters who want to live, love, and raise their children in peace in Russia and therefore want to vote for the Yabloko party," he said.

Yabloko said at least 35 people who came to the Supreme Court in hopes of attending the hearing were detained by law enforcement authorities before it began. Among those was actor Viktor Balabanov, one of the party's candidates for a Duma seat, the party said.

Videos shared on social media showed several young people being escorted by police at the court. Only the parties involved in the case and journalists were allowed inside even though the Supreme Court hearing was supposed to be open to the public. In a brief statement on social media, Yabloko said it has the right to appeal to the Supreme Court's presidium and will do so soon.

Not long before the Supreme Court issued its ruling, the Pskov City Court convicted Shlosberg of discrediting and distributing false information about Russia's armed forces and sentenced him to 11 years and one month in prison. In his final remarks in the courtroom, Shlosberg maintained his innocence, accusing the authorities of political motivation in prosecuting him, and repeated his ardent criticism of the war.

"The lives of countless thousands of people have been cut short" by the war, he said, according to a transcript published by the news outlet Mediazona. "Sooner or later, the precise and complete death toll -- with names included -- will be made public, and the entire nation will shudder at this list of martyrs.

" "Today, cemeteries in our country, including military ones, are growing far more rapidly than maternity wards, kindergartens, and schools," said Shlosberg, who is one of the most prominent Kremlin opponents remaining in Russia.

WASHINGTON, August 17. /TASS/. US First Lady Melania Trump has facilitated the reunification of one more child who was separated from the family amid the Ukrainian conflict, according to a statement released by the White House press service. "First Lady Melania Trump facilitated the reunification of another child with her family on Monday, August 17, 2026, after being separated" during the conflict in Ukraine," it said, not specifying the child and the family’s citizenship.

"My representative and I are focused on helping facilitate the next reunification of individuals who have been separated from their loved ones because of the war between Ukraine and Russia," Melania Trump was quoted as saying. " "To date, First Lady Melania Trump’s efforts have facilitated the reunification of 34 children and families since she penned the Peace Letter to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin," it said.

Russian presidential children’s rights ombudswoman Maria Lvova-Belova earlier lauded Melania Trump’s contribution to the reunification of Russian and Ukrainian children with their families.