Life.ru says one Yabloko candidate struck off, Interfax says another, Mediazona says "two more"

Three reports, three counts. Courts cancelled the registration of Yabloko candidates for the State Duma on 8 September. Life.ru reports one removal. Interfax reports a different one. Mediazona reports two, and calls them "two more" — the only report that places the day inside a series. No report we hold gives a running total. Read together, the three describe at least three candidates removed.

Only one says why.

The court acts; nobody is named as asking. In all three the court is the actor cancelling a registration. Interfax says the Chelyabinsk regional court granted an administrative suit, without saying who filed it. None names a plaintiff; none quotes a removed candidate or an election commission.

Not settled. The total removed. Who brought the cases. The name of the Moscow region candidate — no report we hold carries it. Whether the leaflet grounds cover both of Mediazona's two or only one. And the Nizhny Novgorod removal rests on one account: Life.ru and Mediazona both trace it to Yabloko's press service.

What this is about: Russian courts removing opposition candidates from the ballot before this month's election to the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament.

How it got here

• The Duma is elected every five years. The last vote was in September 2021, so the next one fell due in September 2026.
• Half the seats are filled from national party lists. The other half go to single-member districts, where one candidate wins each constituency. The candidates in these reports stood in districts. One was in district 133 in Nizhny Novgorod.
• Under Russian election law, a candidate who has already registered can still be struck off. A court cancels the registration, usually after a suit from an election commission or a rival candidate. The grounds are breaches of campaign rules, including rules on leaflets and printed material.
• Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, laws against "discrediting" the army have narrowed what candidates can say. In 2021, before that, Alexei Navalny's organisations were declared extremist, and people linked to them were barred from standing.

Who the actors are

• Yabloko is a liberal party founded in 1993 and led for many years by Grigory Yavlinsky. It has not won party-list seats in the Duma since 2003. It is one of the few registered parties that publicly calls for an end to the fighting in Ukraine.
• Regional courts rule on the suits to cancel a registration.
• Election commissions register candidates and can bring suits against them.

What is at stake

Registered opposition parties are one of the few legal routes left for dissent inside Russia. Critics of the authorities say removals like these clear the ballot of opponents. Officials say the courts are applying the rules on campaign material. Which account is right is disputed. Each case turns on its own ruling.

Where it stands

On 8 September, three reports said courts in three regions had removed Yabloko candidates. Mediazona called its two "two more". No report we hold gives a total for the campaign, or says who brought the cases.