The Russian opposition politician Maxim Kruglov.Image: keystone
June 25, 2026, 12:33 a.mJune 25, 2026, 12:33 a.m
Almost three months before the parliamentary elections in Russia, a court in Moscow sentenced opposition politician Maxim Kruglov to seven years in a penal colony on charges of spreading falsehoods about the army. This was reported unanimously by several Russian media outlets.
The deputy chairman of the opposition party Yabloko was accused of two posts on social media from 2022. In one post, Kruglow wrote that he was referring to information from the United Nations and named a number of civilians killed in Ukraine, the other was about Butscha. Russian troops occupied the small Ukrainian town in the first days of the war, and after its liberation it became a symbol of Russian war crimes. Russia has been waging a destructive war of aggression on Ukraine for more than four years.
Kruglow sat as a member of the Moscow city parliament from 2019 to 2024 and has been a co-chair of the party since the end of 2023. He was arrested at the beginning of October 2025. The Russian justice system has also taken action against other party politicians, such as the well-known deputy leader Lev Schlosberg.
The Kremlin has largely eliminated critical media and the opposition. Many opponents of the war and Kremlin critics are in exile. In Russia, elections for the State Duma – parliament – are scheduled for September 18th to 20th. (sda/dpa)