Moscow court sentences Yabloko opposition party deputy chair to seven years in prison for posts about Russian atrocities in Bucha and Mariupol

Source: Mediazona

A Moscow court has sentenced Maxim Kruglov, deputy chair of the Russian liberal party Yabloko, to seven years in prison on charges of spreading “fake” information about the Russian military.

The prosecutor had sought an eight-year sentence.

The criminal case against Kruglov was opened in the fall of 2025, and he has been in custody since October. The charges stemmed from two social media posts: in one, Kruglov wrote about war crimes in Bucha; in the other, he published a photograph of the destroyed city of Mariupol and wrote about civilian deaths, citing United Nations data. He did not plead guilty.

Among the prosecution’s witnesses was an employee of the state-run housing maintenance organization Zhilishchnik who initially introduced himself as a political analyst and a supporter of the Young Guard of United Russia.

In his final statement, Kruglov called the events that drove him to publish the posts “hell.” “It’s impossible to stay silent, and there needs to be an investigation,” he said. “What does any of this have to do with spreading false information?”

Family members, friends, and allies attended the hearing, among them Grigory Yavlinsky, the former chair and founder of Yabloko.

Maxim Kruglov is a deputy chair of Yabloko and led the party’s faction in the Moscow City Duma from 2019 to 2024. Kruglov taught comparative political science at the State Academic University for the Humanities.

At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.

If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at reports@meduza.io.

To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.

Why is it
important
to support
Meduza
now?Read here

Moscow court sentences Yabloko opposition party deputy chair to seven years in prison for posts about Russian atrocities in Bucha and Mariupol

{{ header_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }}

{{ title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }}

{{ second_title }}

Moscow court sentences Yabloko opposition party deputy chair to seven years in prison for posts about Russian atrocities in Bucha and Mariupol

{{{ alt }}}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }}

{{ title }}

{{ title }} {{ second_title }}

{{ title }}

{{ second_title }}