Russian Opposition Figure Jailed Seven Years Over Anti-War Posts

‎A Moscow court has sentenced Maxim Kruglov, deputy chairman of Russia’s liberal Yabloko party, to seven years in prison for social media posts critical of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.
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‎Kruglov, a former member of the Moscow City Council, was arrested in October 2025 on allegations of disseminating what authorities described as false information about the Russian armed forces.
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‎The charges stemmed from two posts published in April 2022. One addressed civilian casualties resulting from the conflict in Ukraine, while the other referenced events in Bucha, a town near Kyiv where numerous civilians were found dead after Russian troops withdrew from the area.
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‎Delivering judgment on Wednesday, Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky Court ordered that Kruglov serve a seven-year sentence in a general-regime penal colony.
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‎The 39-year-old politician denied any wrongdoing, insisting that his comments merely called for an investigation into the incidents mentioned in the posts.
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‎Kruglov is among several members of the Yabloko party who have faced legal action in recent years. The party’s Pskov regional leader, Lev Shlosberg, was placed under house arrest in 2025, while party chairman Nikolai Rybakov was fined for sharing a photograph of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny on social media.
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‎Navalny, who died in prison in 2024, has been designated an extremist by Russian authorities, making public references to him or his organisations potentially punishable under Russian law.
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‎Yabloko, one of Russia’s longest-standing opposition movements, enjoyed significant electoral support during the 1990s and early 2000s but has not secured representation in the State Duma since 2007. Party officials have repeatedly accused authorities of imposing administrative barriers to limit opposition participation in elections.
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‎Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2022, Russia has intensified measures against dissent, with critics of the military campaign facing fines, prosecutions and prison terms.
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