Russian pro-government media outlets reported on Sunday that local police forces in Yekaterinburg stormed an event hosted by the democratic opposition party Yabloko (Apple), aimed at supporting “political prisoners” and bringing the issue of unjust and politically motivated imprisonment to the public attention. The authorities reportedly detained 10 attendees, who have been subsequently released, with further legal action by the prosecutor’s office being possible.
On May 20, the social-liberal party Yabloko announced that it would be hosting several events to support political prisoners during so-called “evenings of letters,” where attendees could carry out correspondence with imprisoned individuals. The party reported that to date, 952 individuals in Russia have been imprisoned because of their political beliefs and affiliations. The letter-writing event was aimed at combating the “unlawful pressure from the [Russian] administration.”
During the event in Yekaterinburg, hosted in the party’s local office, Yabloko reported that 10 “masked men,” under the command of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, raided the venue and detained 10 participants, who were brought to a policed department in the Kirovsky district of Yekaterinburg. Among the detained was the chairman of the regional party branch, Maxim Petlin. During the raid, personal equipment and items such as cameras, phones and documents were seized.
After the raid, Maxim Petlin stated that “the police acted based on a denunciation from our political opponents; it is a great pity that such a practice is becoming a part of Yekaterinburg life.”
Pro-government media channel УРАЛLIVE (UralLive) alleged that the lists of prisoners to whom the activists wrote “included real terrorists and radicals convicted of attempting a coup d’etat.” The channel reported that a member of the State Duma, Anatoly Wasserman, called for “the prosecution of terrorist fans from Yekaterinburg,” being outraged that such events are held during the “special military operation.”
Another media channel, administered by the pro-Kremlin influencer Katyusha Ivanova, proclaimed in the aftermath of the raid that Yabloko figures are guilty of promoting “non-traditional relationships,” and welcomed the arrests, stating that the correspondence gatherings have turned into “a hotbed of ideological and moral rot.”
Yabloko’s representatives expressly state that the prisoners to whom the activists wrote “do not and cannot include citizens convicted of terrorism.”
Particularly since the Kremlin’s war on Ukraine, members of Yabloko have been actively prosecuted for anti-war positions. The current government actions underscore concerns raised in the UN’s 2024 report on the deterioration of the human rights climate in Russia.
Similar “evenings of letters” events are planned throughout major cities such as Moscow, Vladivostok and Chelyabinsk, and so far have not been cancelled despite the authorities’ intervention.
