标签： Europe

In a move that further narrows political opposition ahead of September’s parliamentary elections, Russia’s Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Yabloko, the country’s only openly anti-war political party, confirming the organization’s exclusion from the upcoming vote. Following the court’s ruling, security forces carried out detentions of dozens of people connected to the party, according to on-the-ground reports. Yabloko, which has long positioned itself as a voice for liberal opposition and outspoken criticism of Russia’s military operations, had challenged the initial ban that barred it from placing candidates on the ballot. The party’s leadership had argued that the exclusion was a politically motivated attempt to eliminate anti-war sentiment from the official electoral process. The Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the ban solidifies the elimination of any registered anti-war opposition from the September election ballot, drawing quiet concern from international observers who have repeatedly raised alarms about the shrinking space for political dissent in Russia in recent years. The detentions of dozens of Yabloko supporters and members following the ruling add to a pattern of crackdowns on opposition voices that have intensified since the start of the full-scale military campaign in Ukraine. Rights groups note that this ban is part of a broader series of actions targeting any political organization that does not align with the Kremlin’s current policy agenda, leaving voters with no officially registered option to express opposition to the ongoing war through the parliamentary election process.

In a sweeping escalation of Russia’s crackdown on domestic dissent amid its ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine, one of the country’s most high-profile anti-war opposition politicians has received a lengthy prison sentence, while the only major registered opposition party has been formally blocked from competing in upcoming national parliamentary elections.

Sixty-three-year-old Lev Shlosberg, deputy leader of the liberal opposition party Yabloko, was handed an 11-year and one-month sentence in a maximum-security penal colony by a court in the northwestern Russian city of Pskov on Monday. The conviction centers on charges of discrediting Russia’s armed forces and disseminating false information about the military, allegations that stem from critical comments Shlosberg published on social media platforms.

Prosecutors had originally pushed for a 12-year and one-month prison term, but the court handed down a slightly reduced sentence. Shlosberg has forcefully rejected all charges against him, framing the conviction as a targeted act of political retribution. In a closing statement to the court, a transcript of which was published by independent Russian outlet Novaya Gazeta, Shlosberg dismissed the entire proceedings as a fake investigation designed to achieve an unlawful end. He noted that the court’s sole purpose was to punish a citizen for holding an unpopular political, public, and civil position. Throughout his closing remarks, Shlosberg reiterated his longstanding call for an immediate ceasefire in the Russia-Ukraine war and a return to political dialogue between the two sides, and he was repeatedly cut off by the presiding judge during his statement.

The verdict against Shlosberg came down mere minutes before Russia’s Supreme Court issued a ruling rejecting Yabloko’s final appeal against its disqualification from the September parliamentary elections, scheduled to take place between September 18 and 20. Yabloko, which made history as the only registered Russian political party to publicly oppose the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, was removed from election ballots earlier this month over two contested claims. Russian authorities argued the party publicly supports the so-called international LGBT movement, which Russia’s Supreme Court has labeled an extremist organization, while a separate lawsuit filed by pro-Kremlin nationalist party Rodina also accused Yabloko of copyright violations. Yabloko has denied all accusations against it, and party leadership confirmed it would pursue an appeal against Shlosberg’s conviction.

This series of actions comes as part of a broader nationwide crackdown on all remaining opposition to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has held power for nearly 27 years. Since the invasion began in early 2022, any public dissent against the war has been effectively criminalized under strict wartime censorship laws, with violations carrying penalties ranging from steep fines to decade-long prison sentences. All 10 other political parties that will appear on September’s ballots are open supporters of the war in Ukraine.

Latest polling from Russian state-owned pollster VCIOM shows that support for Putin’s ruling United Russia party slipped to 32.1% earlier this month, marking the lowest rating the party has recorded since May. Despite this drop in public approval, political analysts widely expect the Kremlin to leverage its extensive administrative and regulatory resources to secure the election outcome it favors. Independent election monitoring groups have already been stripped of nearly all their authority to oversee the voting process and challenge any irregularities or unfair practices.

A Russian court handed down a guilty verdict and an 11-year, one-month prison sentence Monday to a high-profile opposition politician who publicly spoke out against the ongoing war in Ukraine, marking the latest escalation in government crackdowns on dissent ahead of next month’s national parliamentary election.

The ruling against Lev Shlosberg, deputy chairman of Russia’s Yabloko party — the only registered, official political party in the country that openly opposes the full-scale invasion of Ukraine launched by the Kremlin in February 2022 — solidifies the Russian government’s sustained campaign to eliminate all public opposition to its military action, rights observers say.

The 63-year-old politician, who previously represented the Pskov region in the local legislature from 2016 to 2021, stood trial in his home city of Pskov, located roughly 370 miles northwest of Moscow. He faced two key charges under Russia’s sweeping wartime legislation: discrediting the Russian military and disseminating what the state defines as false information about the armed forces.

Prosecutors brought the charges after Shlosberg made public calls for an end to the war during a legislative debate, and shared a front page from a British tabloid on his Telegram channel. The front page placed a photograph of a bloodied woman adjacent to an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the headline reading “Her blood … his hands.” Shlosberg has repeatedly dismissed all charges against him as baseless and politically motivated.

Monday’s conviction is Shlosberg’s second in just two years. He was previously flagged by the Russian government as a “foreign agent” — a legal designation that carries intense social stigma in Russia and subjects recipients to constant, invasive state monitoring — and convicted of violating administrative rules tied to that status. He has remained in pre-trial detention since the new charges were brought against him in December 2023.

In his closing address to the court Friday, Shlosberg reflected on three decades of Russian political development, arguing that the country has moved “from hopes for freedom to the almost complete destruction of human and civil rights and freedoms.” He added that the war in Ukraine has upended the lives of every Russian, without exception, and warned that once the full, unreported death toll of the conflict is made public, “the entire country will shudder.”

In the wake of the verdict, Yabloko party officials called the sentence a “brutal” ruling handed down simply for Shlosberg’s “love of the Motherland and calls for a ceasefire.” The party confirmed via a Telegram statement that it will file an appeal to challenge the conviction and sentence.

Global human rights organization Amnesty International also condemned the verdict in a formal statement. Marie Struthers, the group’s director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, called Shlosberg’s prosecution and sentencing “blatant reprisals for exercising his right to freedom of expression to call for peace.”

Struthers urged Russian authorities to “immediately and unconditionally release Lev Shlosberg and quash his conviction.” She added that the Russian government must repeal wartime laws that criminalize peaceful anti-war speech, end targeted harassment of Yabloko party members and supporters, and uphold the fundamental rights to freedom of expression, association, peaceful assembly and political participation for all Russian citizens.

LONDON – Multiple published reports have revealed that Britain’s newly installed Prime Minister Andy Burnham exchanged direct communications with a fraudulent imposter claiming to be Susie Wiles, White House Chief of Staff to U.S. President Donald Trump. The revelation brings to light a growing pattern of malicious AI-enabled impersonation that has targeted high-ranking officials across North America and Europe in recent months.

Politico was the first outlet to break the story, citing four anonymous government sources who confirmed that Burnham initially believed he was in legitimate contact with Wiles, before raising suspicion and terminating the interaction abruptly. When approached for confirmation, a spokesperson for the prime minister’s office declined to provide further details, citing the government’s longstanding policy of not commenting on matters related to national security.

This incident is not an isolated case. A year prior, U.S. federal authorities launched a full investigation into a string of suspicious messages sent to sitting elected officials, top business leaders, and other high-profile public figures across the United States, all originating from a scammer impersonating Wiles. In the immediate aftermath of those earlier incidents, the U.S. Department of State issued an official alert to all American diplomatic personnel warning of bad actors using artificial intelligence to mimic senior U.S. government officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The warning was prompted by the discovery that a scammer posing as Rubio had attempted to initiate contact with at least three sitting foreign ministers, one U.S. senator, and one U.S. state governor.

Federal law enforcement, led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has already publicly cautioned the global political community about the growing threat of “malicious actors” misusing generative artificial intelligence to convincingly impersonate senior government leaders for strategic or harmful purposes.

Burnham, who took office as prime minister less than four weeks ago, has made rebuilding warm bilateral relations between the United Kingdom and the Trump White House a key early foreign policy priority. His predecessor, Keir Starmer, initially enjoyed a positive rapport with Trump when he took office, but that relationship quickly deteriorated in subsequent months.