Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation and exiled opposition politician Maxim Katz spent years feuding. Now they’ve joined forces to coordinate efforts to vote against Russia’s ruling party.

Politicians Yulia Navalnaya and Maxim Katz issued simultaneous statements outlining a joint voting strategy for Russia’s State Duma elections, scheduled for September 18–20.

“For every election, our team prepares recommendations on whom to vote for. But this time, instead of drawing up the list alone, we worked with Maxim Katz’s team. Finding a compromise wasn’t easy, but we’re proud of what we accomplished,” Navalnaya said.

“We talked for a long time. Most people agreed with the plan; some didn’t, but said they wouldn’t object. […] In the end, we came up with a single joint list. Yulia Navalnaya and I are presenting it together today,” Katz said.

The recommendations call for voting for any party other than United Russia on the party-list ballot. “That doesn’t mean you support them. It’s simply a way to cast a protest vote — a way to take votes away from United Russia,” Navalnaya said in her video.

In single-member districts, voters are advised to support the strongest candidate capable of challenging the ruling party — or, as Navalnaya put it, a candidate “whose strong showing would displease the Kremlin and United Russia.”

The list of recommended candidates is already available. Voters can find the recommendations on Katz’s website or through the Smart Voting Telegram bot, a Navalny team project that has been used in elections since 2018.

Shortly before that, on September 10, the Yabloko party proposed its own “Plan B.” Russia’s Supreme Court removed Yabloko’s federal party list from the election in early August. The party’s strategy calls on voters to spoil the party-list ballot and “not support any party that opposes peace, freedom, and a life without fear.”

Yabloko urged voters to go to polling stations on Sunday, September 20, and use only paper ballots, calling them “reliable protection against digital manipulation.”

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Navalnaya is also urging people to vote on September 20 and suggesting that they arrive at polling stations at noon. The same strategy was used during the presidential election under the name “Noon Against Putin” and was intended to bring together protest-minded Russians. Ilya Yashin, another exiled politician, has endorsed the call. Asked why it matters, he said: “Voting at noon is legal. You won’t be fined or jailed for it. But everyone will know and understand what those lines mean, and opponents of the war will be able to see just how many of us there really are.” Navalnaya said: “But if any of that doesn’t work out, come and vote anyway.”

The Anti-Corruption Foundation, or FBK, and Katz have repeatedly clashed. In the fall of 2024, Katz released an investigation accusing the former owners of Probusinessbank of stealing depositors’ money and FBK of “laundering” their reputations. The Anti-Corruption Foundation published a detailed response rejecting Katz’s allegations. Navalny’s associates examined the alleged schemes for siphoning money out of Probusinessbank and said the bankers had not stolen anything.