Deputy leader of Russia's only anti-war party sentenced to 11 years in prison for social media posts

A Russian court has sentenced Lev Shlosberg, deputy leader of the anti-war Yabloko party, to 11 years and one month in prison after finding him guilty of "discrediting the armed forces" and spreading "fake war news".

Source: Russian independent media outlets Mediazona and Meduza

Quote from Mediazona: "Lev Shlosberg has been sentenced to 11 years and one month in a penal colony for taking part in debates about the war and reposting an Ekho Moskvy post that featured a front page from the Daily Mirror… The sentence reflects the combined penalties for the two charges, with an earlier conviction under the law on foreign agents also taken into account."

Details: The fake news case was opened after Shlosberg shared a post from the radio station Ekho Moskvy on his Telegram channel on 25 February 2022. The post featured the front page of the UK's Daily Mirror, which showed a woman covered in blood and an image of Vladimir Putin with the headline "Her blood… His hands."

The charge of "discrediting the armed forces" relates to a video posted on the Russian social network Odnoklassniki that featured a debate between Shlosberg and historian Yuri Pivovarov in which Shlosberg argued for "a swift ceasefire in Ukraine".

According to Mediazona, Shlosberg pointed out that the Telegram repost had been made prior to Russia introducing the legislation on "fake news", and that the remarks made during the debate had in fact been made by his opponent, whose position the politician disputed.

Meduza reported that none of Shlosberg's three lawyers was able to attend the hearing. However, the judge refused to adjourn it and appointed another lawyer for him, despite the defendant's objections.

The deputy Yabloko leader received a previous conviction in November 2025, when he was sentenced to 420 hours of community service for failing to comply with the obligations of a "foreign agent", a designation imposed on Shlosberg in 2023.

Meduza reported that Shlosberg is one of the few Russian politicians who has publicly opposed the war while remaining in Russia.

Background:

• Members of Yabloko – Russia's only party to oppose the war against Ukraine – support a ceasefire, diplomacy and peace, and oppose nuclear war and political repression.
• On 10 August, Yabloko was barred from fielding candidates for elections to the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament). Russia's Supreme Court issued the ruling after hearing a lawsuit brought by the nationalist Rodina party, which accused Yabloko members of extremism and breach of copyright.
• It is the first time in modern Russian history that a party that was registered to take part in an election has been removed from the ballot.

Support Ukrainska Pravda on Patreon to help us keep reporting!