Reacting to news that Maksim Kruglov, deputy chair of the Russian opposition Yabloko party and former Moscow City Duma deputy, has been sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for social media posts about civilian casualties in Bucha, Mariupol and elsewhere in Ukraine, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director, said:
“Maksim Kruglov has been imprisoned not for any recognizable criminal offense, but simply for expressing his views and calling for an investigation into alleged war crimes. He is the latest among hundreds of people who are being targeted in Russia for expressing anti-war views.
“His harsh prison sentence is punishment for demanding justice for the victims of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and also part of a wider campaign to attack the Yabloko party ahead of the Duma election in September. Maksim Kruglov is one of several Yabloko members targeted by the authorities’ campaign to silence the only registered political party in Russia which is openly calling for an immediate end to the hostilities.”
“The Russian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release him and all others imprisoned solely for peacefully opposing Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The authorities must quash their convictions and repeal all legislation known as ‘war censorship’ laws.”
Background
On June 24, Moscow’s Zamoskvoretsky District Court sentenced Maksim Kruglov to seven years in a penal colony. He was arrested in St Petersburg in October 2025 on charges of spreading “knowingly false information” about the Russian military for Telegram and VKontakte posts referring to civilian deaths in Ukraine, including in Mariupol and Bucha.
Shortly after his arrest, Maksim Kruglov was added to Russia’s “terrorists and extremists” register. In December 2025, another co-chair of the Yabloko party, Lev Shlosberg, was charged with the same offences. At least nine party activists have faced criminal prosecution, dozens have been administratively detained, and 12 officials were labelled “foreign agents,” disqualifying them from the upcoming Duma election.
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