PUTIN PERSONALLY REMOVED RUSSIA’S ONLY ANTI-WAR PARTY AS ITS SUPPORT SURGED

PUTIN PERSONALLY REMOVED RUSSIA’S ONLY ANTI-WAR PARTY AS ITS SUPPORT SURGED Vladimir Putin personally approved the removal of Yabloko—the only officially registered Russian party opposing the war in Ukraine—from September’s parliamentary elections, according to Der Spiegel. The Kremlin initially allowed Yabloko onto the ballot because it was considered harmless. That calculation changed when its campaign […]

PUTIN PERSONALLY REMOVED RUSSIA’S ONLY ANTI-WAR PARTY AS ITS SUPPORT SURGED

Vladimir Putin personally approved the removal of Yabloko—the only officially registered Russian party opposing the war in Ukraine—from September’s parliamentary elections, according to Der Spiegel.

The Kremlin initially allowed Yabloko onto the ballot because it was considered harmless. That calculation changed when its campaign became a rallying point for Russians seeking a ceasefire, diplomacy and an end to the war.

Within three weeks, the party’s support reportedly climbed from 1% to 4%. Closed polling placed Yabloko as high as 5.5% nationally—enough to cross the threshold for parliamentary representation—and around 11% in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Its digital growth was even harder to ignore. Yabloko reportedly gained approximately 200,000 Telegram subscribers in one month, including 50,000 on the day it was removed. Online interest briefly surpassed that of United Russia, while the party’s publications generated more than 11.5 million views.

Der Spiegel reports that Kremlin political chief Sergei Kiriyenko and the FSB pushed for Yabloko’s exclusion, with Putin making the final decision. Russia’s Supreme Court then formally removed the party following a complaint from the pro-Kremlin nationalist party Rodina.

Yabloko was never close to taking power. That is precisely what makes the Kremlin’s reaction so revealing. A party polling in the low single digits frightened the system because its support was rising around one forbidden idea: ending the war.

Putin may have underestimated the resentment accumulating beneath Russia’s censorship and manufactured polling. When even a controlled election begins revealing that resentment, the Kremlin does what it has always done—it removes the choice.