The Lev Shlosberg sentence handed down Monday runs to 11 years and one month — punishment for a Russian opposition politician who publicly called for an end to the war in Ukraine. Hours later, in a separate Moscow courtroom, the Supreme Court finalised the removal of his party from next month’s parliamentary ballot.

Two rulings, one day, and a clear message ahead of the Sept. 18-20 vote.

Shlosberg, 63, serves as deputy chairman of Yabloko, the only officially registered political party in Russia that openly opposes the invasion launched in February 2022.

What He Was Convicted Of

The trial took place in Pskov, roughly 600 kilometres northwest of Moscow, where Shlosberg sat in the regional legislature from 2016 to 2021. Prosecutors charged him with discrediting the Russian military and spreading false information about it.

The conduct at issue consisted of two things. During a public debate, he called for ending the war. On his Telegram channel, he posted the front page of a British tabloid showing a bloodied woman beside an image of President Vladimir Putin under a headline connecting her injuries to his responsibility.

Shlosberg rejected the charges as baseless.

This was his second trial in two years. He has also been labelled a foreign agent — a designation carrying heavy stigma in Russia and triggering additional state monitoring — and was previously convicted of violating the associated regulations.

He has been in custody since December 2025, when he was placed in pretrial detention on the current charges.

His Statement to the Court

Delivering his final remarks Friday, Shlosberg described a three-decade trajectory: Russia moving from hopes of freedom toward the near-total dismantling of human and civil rights.

The war, he said, has altered the life of every Russian citizen without exception. He predicted that when the true number of dead eventually becomes known, the entire country will shudder.

Yabloko called the punishment a barbaric sentence imposed for love of country and for urging a ceasefire. The party said on Telegram that he will appeal.

International Condemnation

Amnesty International denounced the verdict. Marie Struthers, the organisation’s director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, described the prosecution and sentencing as arbitrary reprisals for exercising the right to free expression in service of calling for peace.

She said Russian authorities must release Shlosberg immediately and unconditionally and overturn his conviction. Her statement went further, calling for repeal of the laws criminalising peaceful anti-war speech, an end to the persecution of Yabloko members and supporters, and respect for the rights of all Russians to speak, associate, assemble and take part in politics.

The Party Removed From the Ballot

Yabloko’s exclusion followed a separate track. The Central Election Commission had approved the party in July, alongside ten others.

That approval provoked an immediate backlash. Several Kremlin-aligned parties publicly attacked Yabloko over its anti-war position. The Motherland Party filed suit at the Supreme Court demanding removal, alleging copyright infringement and excessive campaign spending — and arguing that Yabloko’s stance on Ukraine was itself unlawful, amounting to a call to violate Russia’s territorial integrity.

Yabloko denied the accusations. The court ruled against it, and Monday’s decision rejected the party’s appeal.

Its campaign slogans give a sense of what was being excluded:

• For a ceasefire agreement, diplomacy and peace
• Our goal is to prevent nuclear war
• For a Russia free from fear and political repression

Detentions Outside the Courthouse

Supporters assembled outside as the appeal was heard. Russian media reported that several dozen people were detained.

Grigory Yavlinsky, who co-founded Yabloko in the 1990s and chairs its political committee, said the ruling reflects a serious and deepening crisis in the Russian political system, along with an absence of any shared vision of the future. People are feeling this more sharply regardless of their political views, he said, and the party’s campaign for peace and freedom struck precisely that sore point.

What Remains

Yabloko chairman Nikolai Rybakov said the party will file a complaint with the Presidium of the Supreme Court and may take the matter to the Constitutional Court.

He framed the outcome as a partial success despite everything. The main achievement, he said, is that the world now knows how many people in Russia want peace, want to live normally and want to raise children under a peaceful sky in their own country.

On Shlosberg’s imprisonment, Rybakov said the party’s feelings are with him and with other political prisoners who have fought and continue fighting for peace and against people dying.

The Broader Pattern

Yabloko was once a leading liberal presence in the Duma before losing its seats as the Kremlin consolidated control over the political system. Multiple prominent members have been jailed or designated foreign agents in recent years.

Notably, the party found new support after being approved for the ballot — from young social media users inside Russia and from opposition figures living in exile, who urged voters to back it.

That support may explain the reversal better than the copyright claim did. A party polling near irrelevance poses no threat. One attracting fresh attention on an explicitly anti-war platform, weeks before a national vote, is a different proposition entirely.