Deputy Chairman of Yabloko Maxim Kruglov was sentenced to seven years in prison for two posts about the war

The Zamoskvoretsky Court of Moscow sentenced the deputy chairman of the Yabloko party, Maxim Kruglov, to seven years in a general regime colony in the case of disseminating “fakes” about the Russian army.

The prosecutor requested eight years in prison for the politician.

The case against Kruglov was opened in the fall of 2025. The politician has been under arrest since October. The reason for the persecution was two posts. In one, Kruglov wrote about war crimes in Bucha, in another, he published a photo of the destroyed Mariupol and wrote about dead civilians with reference to UN data. The politician did not admit guilt.

Witnesses for the prosecution were an employee of the State Budgetary Institution “Zhilischnik”, who first introduced himself as a political scientist, and a supporter of the “Young Guard of United Russia”.

In his last word, Kruglov called the events that prompted him to publish the posts “hell.” “This is hell, it’s impossible not to talk about it, an investigation is necessary. How is this spreading deliberately false information?” - said the politician.

The politician's relatives, friends and associates came to the trial. Among them was the former chairman and founder of Yabloko, Grigory Yavlinsky.

• Maxim Kruglov is the deputy chairman of Yabloko; he headed the party faction in the Moscow City Duma from 2019 to 2024. Kruglov taught comparative political science at the State Academic University for the Humanities (GAUGN).