Nikolái Ribakov, leader of the Yábloko party —the only legally recognized party in Russia that openly opposes the invasion of Ukraine— stated to the EFE agency that millions of Russians reject the war and want peace, following three months of an intense anti-war campaign that, according to him, restored hope to a citizenry weary of the conflict.
We demonstrated to the Russian authorities, we demonstrated to the whole world, that millions of Russian citizens do not agree with what is happening and want peace. This has happened before, stated Ribakov from the party headquarters in Moscow, with a basket of apples on the table—a symbol of the name Yábloko, which in Russian means exactly that.
The statements came on the eve of the last day of the elections for the State Duma, held between September 18 and 20, the first legislative elections since Vladimir Putin ordered the large-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The context in which Ribakov spoke could not have been more adverse: the Russian Supreme Court annulled in August the federal list of Yábloko—about 300 candidates—following a lawsuit from the ultranationalist party Ródina, and the appeals court upheld the ban days later. The UN called on Moscow to reverse the decision, but to no avail. Only a few candidates from the party were able to compete in single-member districts.
Despite the exclusion, Ribakov urged voters not to support any of the parties on the ballot. “Voting for any of these parties would mean supporting Putin's policies,” he warned, and suggested spoiling the ballots where their candidates had been banned. This Sunday, Ribakov himself voted in St. Petersburg and wrote on his ballot the words “life without fear,” “peace,” and “freedom.”
With 60% of the votes counted, United Russia was leading with 47% of the ballots, followed by the Communist Party with nearly 21%. No real opposition party was among the contenders.
The backdrop of these elections is a war that has already cost Russia nearly 500,000 soldiers' lives, as confirmed in September by the British Defense chief, Richard Knighton. Total casualties—both dead and injured—are estimated to be around 1.5 million since February 2022, a toll that Putin refuses to stop through negotiations.
Far from seeking a diplomatic solution, the Kremlin is preparing, according to Western intelligence services, a new covert mobilization following the elections.
The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky estimated that Russia could recruit up to 300,000 additional soldiers, while Ukrainian intelligence speaks of between 600,000 and 800,000 troops by 2026-2027. Meanwhile, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned on September 17 about Russian plans for drone and missile attacks against countries on NATO's eastern flank.
Ribakov highlighted that a new generation has joined the pacifist cause: «Many young people are coming together with us, individuals who only this summer saw that there could be some kind of politics in Russia. They became adults after February 24, 2022. This is a special generation».
“We will find another way to work and will never back down. Something can be done regarding Yábloko as a legal entity, but nothing can be done about the millions of people who support Yábloko's stance,” concluded the opposition leader.
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