Russian opposition politician Lev Shlosberg sentenced to 11 years for opposing Ukraine war

On August 17, 2026, a Russian court sentenced opposition politician Lev Shlosberg, deputy chairman of the liberal Yabloko party, to 11 years and one month in prison for criticizing the war in Ukraine. Simultaneously, Russia's Supreme Court upheld a ban excluding Yabloko from the September 2026 parliamentary elections. These rulings intensify the Kremlin's crackdown on dissent, removing the last official anti-war party from the ballot as the conflict continues in its fifth year.

Shlosberg eleven-year prison sentence

• ▪The Pskov court convicted Lev Shlosberg of discrediting the Russian armed forces and spreading false information about them under wartime censorship laws.
• ▪The Pskov court banned Lev Shlosberg from administering websites for six years as part of his sentence on August 17, 2026.
• ▪On August 17, 2026, a Russian court in Pskov sentenced Lev Shlosberg, the deputy chairman of the liberal Yabloko party, to 11 years and one month in a penal colony.

Yabloko party election ban

• ▪On August 17, 2026, Russia's Supreme Court rejected an appeal by the Yabloko party, upholding a decision to bar the party from the September 18-20, 2026 parliamentary elections.
• ▪The lawsuit to remove the Yabloko party from the ballot was filed by the pro-Kremlin nationalist Rodina party, which accused Yabloko of copyright infringement and exceeding campaign spending limits.
• ▪Yabloko party chairman Nikolai Rybakov stated on August 17, 2026, that the party would appeal the election ban to the Presidium of the Supreme Court and the Constitutional Court.
• ▪Following the Supreme Court's ruling on August 17, 2026, Russian police detained several dozen Yabloko supporters who gathered outside the courthouse in Moscow.

Kremlin crackdown on dissent

• ▪Lev Shlosberg's sentencing follows the June 2026 conviction of another Yabloko deputy leader, Maxim Kruglov, who was sentenced to seven years in prison for spreading lies about the military.
• ▪In December 2025, Russia's financial intelligence unit added Lev Shlosberg to its register of extremists, and he was placed in pretrial detention.
• ▪Russian authorities designated Lev Shlosberg as a 'foreign agent' in June 2023 and subsequently convicted him of violating foreign agent regulations.
• ▪Russian authorities passed laws shortly after the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine that criminalized criticism of the military, carrying prison sentences of up to 15 years.

Shlosberg anti-war statements

• ▪The charges against Lev Shlosberg stemmed from a video debate with historian Yuri Pivovarov where he called for a ceasefire, and a Telegram repost of a British tabloid cover depicting Vladimir Putin.
• ▪In his final statement to the court on August 14, 2026, Lev Shlosberg warned that the true death toll of the Ukraine war would eventually cause the entire country to shudder.
• ▪Lev Shlosberg rejected all charges against him as unfounded and politically motivated, calling his trial an imitation of justice.

Ukraine war fifth year

• ▪The conflict in Ukraine, which began with Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022, has entered its fifth year as of August 2026.
• ▪Independent outlets Mediazona and BBC Russian service have documented the names of at least 239,354 fallen Russian service members, estimating the true death toll exceeds 350,000.

13 sources