Russia sidelines anti-war politicians before Duma elections

Ahead of Russia's State Duma elections held Sept. 18-20, the first since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, authorities moved against remaining anti-war voices. Independent candidate Boris Nadezhdin, 63, was branded a "foreign agent" by the Justice Ministry on July 10, barring him from office; he later left the country and is now in Paris. A court barred the anti-war Yabloko party from the party-list ballot. Its deputy chairman, Lev Shlosberg, was sentenced to 11 years and one month for discrediting the armed forces.

Written by AI from Foreign Policy · not yet reviewed by an editor · Published 17 Sept 2026, 12:48 am IST

Source

Foreign Policy · read the original report ↗

#russia#state duma elections#anti-war opposition#yabloko#nadezhdin

Desk check · compared with the source

What the desk checked (5)

Boris Nadezhdin, 63, was branded a 'foreign agent' by the Justice Ministry on July 10, barring him from office, and left Russia for Paris via Kazakhstan. — Detailed dated account based on the reporter's video interview with Nadezhdin; figures appear in source.
A Moscow court barred the anti-war Yabloko party from the party-list ballot after a lawsuit filed by the nationalist Rodina party on Aug. 7; its appeal was rejected. — Attributed to court action described in source; no court document cited.
Yabloko deputy chairman Lev Shlosberg was sentenced to 11 years and one month for discrediting the armed forces. — Figure appears in source; no case number or court named.
Duma elections were held Sept. 18-20; United Russia holds 70 percent of the 450 seats and its approval dipped in July to its lowest since the invasion. — Dates and seat share stated in source; the polling claim is given without naming the pollster.
Yabloko's Instagram following grew by 100,000 in a few weeks. — Attributed in source to a Wall Street Journal report.

Written by AI from Foreign Policy · not yet reviewed by an editor · How we use AI · Report an error

Analysts’ view opinion

AI Strategic Affairs Analyst

The pre-Duma purge of anti-war voices is less about electoral arithmetic than about managing the home front of a long war. By barring Boris Nadezhdin as a "foreign agent", removing Yabloko from the party-list ballot and jailing its deputy chairman Lev Shlosberg for 11 years and one month, the authorities have signalled that even token, single-digit dissent on the war is now treated as a security risk rather than a political nuisance. Strategically, that suggests a leadership planning for attrition — and unwilling to let any measurable domestic peace constituency exist while it negotiates, or declines to negotiate, over Ukraine.

The story links the crackdown to war costs arriving at home — drones over Moscow, long fuel queues, disrupted deliveries — indicating that domestic resilience, not opposition strength, is the pressure point.
Analysts quoted in the story read the hasty Yabloko ban as a miscalculation: the Kremlin wanted a low anti-war vote as proof of consensus, then blocked the party when interest surged, which itself advertises sensitivity to the issue.
Removing the ballot as a safety valve pushes discontent into coded, online and informal channels, which are harder for any state to read — a monitoring problem as much as a political one.
For Kyiv and Western capitals, a Duma with no visible peace bloc narrows the theory that internal pressure can shift Russian war policy, and strengthens the case that leverage must come from the battlefield and sanctions.
The concentration of opposition in exile — Nadezhdin in Paris, Yashin in Berlin with his new Peaceful Russia party — turns Russian dissidence into a diaspora question for host states, with the story noting these figures currently have little practical influence at home.

What to watch — Watch whether Yabloko is liquidated altogether after the September 18-20 vote, and whether more "discrediting the armed forces" prosecutions follow — both would show the Kremlin is hardening rather than easing controls once the election passes.

The story does not establish how deep anti-war sentiment actually runs in Russia — polling cited is divergent and in single digits — nor that the crackdown reflects any specific decision about the war's next phase.

Deep dive

Research brief · 8 facts · 10 dates · exam-ready

The brief

Context

Russia held elections to the State Duma, the 450-seat lower house of parliament, from Sept. 18 to 20 — the first parliamentary vote since the February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In the run-up, authorities moved against the last politicians campaigning openly for peace: independent candidate Boris Nadezhdin was declared a "foreign agent" and left the country, while a Moscow court barred the liberal, anti-war Yabloko party from the party-list ballot. United Russia holds 70 percent of Duma seats; the remaining parties form what is known as the "systemic opposition," which broadly supports the ruling party. Since 2022 Russia has criminalised "discrediting" the military, with prison terms for offenders.

Key facts

Russia's State Duma elections were held Sept. 18-20, the first parliamentary vote since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
On July 10, weeks after Nadezhdin, 63, filed candidacy papers with the Central Election Commission, the Justice Ministry branded him a "foreign agent," barring him from office.
Nadezhdin was convicted of displaying "extremist symbols" over a 2023 social media link to a video showing a picture of Alexei Navalny, and banned from leaving Russia; the ban was later lifted and he flew via Kazakhstan to Paris.
In his 2024 presidential bid, more than 100,000 Russians endorsed Nadezhdin before the Central Election Commission barred him, citing 9,000 supposedly erroneous signatures.
The nationalist Rodina party sued to challenge Yabloko's registration on Aug. 7, alleging it took money from Western donors; a Moscow court agreed and the appeal was rejected.
Yabloko is off the party-list ballot but its candidates may still stand in single-member constituencies.
Yabloko deputy chairman Lev Shlosberg was sentenced to 11 years and one month in prison for discrediting the armed forces, days after the party was barred.
Yabloko's Instagram following grew by 100,000 in a few weeks; traffic to four of its major social media platforms doubled during one week in late July, per a Russian election monitoring project.

Timeline

1993Yabloko party founded; an early agitator for democratic reforms in post-Soviet Russia.
2003Yabloko last wins a Duma seat; it has failed to enter the chamber since.
2011-2016Dmitry Gudkov serves as an independent representative in the State Duma.
February 2022Full-scale invasion of Ukraine; Russia institutes sweeping curbs on speech about the war, including prison for "discrediting" the military.
2023Nadezhdin shares a link to a video showing a picture of Navalny — later the basis of his "extremist symbols" conviction.
2024 (two years before the story)Nadezhdin runs an anti-war presidential campaign; over 100,000 endorse him before the CEC bars him and his legal challenge fails.
Summer 2025Nadezhdin begins campaigning as an independent for the Duma with the slogan "Peace, development, fair elections, strong cities."
July 10Justice Ministry designates Nadezhdin a "foreign agent," barring him from office.
Late JulyNadezhdin receives a summons from the Investigative Committee, finds his exit ban lifted, and leaves for Kazakhstan and then Paris; interest in Yabloko surges online.
Aug. 7Rodina files suit challenging Yabloko's registration; a Moscow court later bars the party from the party-list ballot.

Who has a stake

Boris Nadezhdin, 63, independent candidate — Barred from office as a "foreign agent," facing likely criminal charges; now in exile in Paris and has stopped political activity on lawyers' advice.
Yabloko party — Excluded from the party-list ballot; its leaders imprisoned and, per Gudkov, the party itself may be liquidated.
Lev Shlosberg, Yabloko deputy chairman — Sentenced to 11 years and one month in prison for discrediting the armed forces.
The Kremlin and United Russia — Needs the war to have "the veneer of public support"; holds 70 percent of Duma seats but saw approval fall to a post-invasion low in July.
Anti-war Russian voters — Lost the only anti-war option on the party-list ballot, removing a channel to register displeasure with the war.
Exiled opposition (Ilya Yashin in Berlin, Dmitry Gudkov) — Trying to organise resistance from abroad — Yashin formed a party called Peaceful Russia — but have little practical influence at home.
Rodina party (nationalist) — Filed the lawsuit that led to Yabloko's exclusion from the party-list ballot.

Why it matters

The episode shows how an electoral system can be kept formally competitive while every genuinely dissenting option is removed by legal means — foreign-agent designation, "extremist symbols" convictions, registration lawsuits and long prison terms. It also signals Kremlin anxiety: with drone strikes reaching Moscow, fuel queues and United Russia's approval at a post-invasion low, even a party polling in single digits was too risky to allow on the ballot. For observers of Russia's war policy, it means domestic electoral politics will offer no measurable signal of war fatigue.

UPSC angle

Prelims pointers

State Duma: lower house of Russia's parliament, 450 deputies; United Russia holds 70 percent of seats; 5 percent threshold to enter the Duma.
Duma elections held Sept. 18-20, first since the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Yabloko (Russian for "apple"): liberal party founded 1993, no Duma seat since 2003, barred from the 2025 party-list ballot after an Aug. 7 suit by Rodina.
"Foreign agent" designation by Russia's Justice Ministry (Nadezhdin, July 10, 2025) bars a person from holding office.
"Systemic opposition": Duma parties that differ in priorities but broadly support United Russia.
Lev Shlosberg, Yabloko deputy chairman, jailed 11 years and one month for "discrediting" the armed forces.

Mains framing

Russia's 2025 Duma elections illustrate the mechanics of managed authoritarianism: rather than cancelling votes, the state uses law — \"foreign agent\" listings, administrative convictions for \"extremist symbols,\" registration suits over alleged Western funding, and criminal penalties for \"discrediting\" the military — to strip the ballot of any anti-war choice. The drivers are visible in the source: United Russia's approval at its lowest since February 2022, Ukrainian drones striking deeper into Russia, long fuel queues and disrupted e-commerce, and a Kremlin need, in Putin's words, for the vote to \"reaffirm the stability of the state.\" Analyst Nikolai Petrov argues the Kremlin miscalculated — it wanted a weak Yabloko result to prove there is \"absolutely no public appeal to end the war,\" then had no exit once support surged, handing the party a symbolic \"huge victory\" that showed \"the Kremlin is afraid of them.\" The implications are twofold: parliament ceases to function as even a crude barometer of public sentiment, and opposition is pushed, as Ilya Yashin puts it, \"underground or in exile or in prison,\" where exiles like Nadezhdin and Yashin's new Peaceful Russia party have little practical leverage at home. The source offers no policy remedy; it records only Yashin's expectation that Putin's departure would reopen space for political struggle, and Gudkov's warning that Yabloko itself may be liquidated because it is \"not needed for the system anymore.\"

Key terms

State Duma: The 450-member lower house of Russia's legislature; United Russia holds 70 percent of its seats.
Systemic opposition: Parties inside the Duma that differ on priorities but broadly back United Russia; described as created and managed by the Kremlin.
"Foreign agent" designation: A Justice Ministry label that carries legal restrictions and, as with Nadezhdin, bars the person from holding office.
"Discrediting" the armed forces: A post-2022 offence used to imprison critics of the war; Yabloko's Lev Shlosberg got 11 years and one month under it.
Yabloko: Liberal party founded in 1993 ("apple" in Russian), the only party opposing the Ukraine war at the level of rhetoric.
Central Election Commission (CEC): Russia's election body; it barred Nadezhdin's 2024 presidential bid citing 9,000 supposedly erroneous signatures.

Practice questions

Examine how legal and administrative instruments, rather than outright bans on voting, are used to manage electoral competition in Russia. Illustrate with the 2025 Duma election.
"Yabloko's exclusion was both a defeat and a symbolic victory." Critically evaluate this paradox in the light of the Kremlin's need for visible public support for the war.
What are the limits of exile-based political opposition in influencing domestic politics? Discuss with reference to Russian anti-war politicians after 2022.

Grounded only in the source report — figures and dates are the source's, not inferred.

Next storyUP Deputy CM meets reservation reform agitators, assures Union Minister talks →

← All stories