The European Union on Monday imposed sanctions against 10 Russian officials over the exclusion of the liberal Yabloko party from this month’s parliamentary elections and the recent criminal prosecution of its senior members.
The officials were accused of “supporting the repression of democratic opposition and seriously undermining democracy and the rule of law in Russia.” The sanctions against them include EU asset freezes and travel bans.
One Russian Supreme Court judge was sanctioned for ruling last month to bar Yabloko’s federal party list from the ballot for alleged violations involving foreign funding, campaign materials distributed through restricted foreign platforms and copyright rules. Two more judges were sanctioned for upholding that ruling.
A Central Election Commission official and a prosecutor were also sanctioned for taking part in the court proceedings against Yabloko.
In addition, two judges and two state prosecutors were sanctioned for the jailing of senior Yabloko members, including the former head of the party’s Pskov regional branch, Lev Shlosberg.
Another judge was sanctioned for fining Yabloko Chairman Nikolai Rybakov after he shared a photo of the late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
Yabloko, Russia’s oldest liberal party, was the only registered political party campaigning for peace in the 2026 State Duma elections.
Besides being struck from the party-list ballot, Yabloko’s candidates running for seats in the lower house faced interference from the authorities, police detentions and disqualification in single-member constituencies where they could still run.
Yabloko was also barred from almost all regional assembly races. The northwestern Novgorod was the only place in Russia where the party managed to pass the 5% electoral threshold to gain seats in the regional legislature.
In a separate action on Monday, the EU sanctioned 27 additional individuals and organizations accused of being involved in the forced deportation and indoctrination of Ukrainian children.
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