Nadezhdin's peace campaign crushed

Boris Nadezhdin ran for parliament as an independent peace candidate. Within weeks, authorities forced him to flee Russia or face prison.

Not a radical, just persistent

Nadezhdin, 63, isn't a firebrand. He thinks his mistake was not disappearing after his failed presidential bid two years ago.

“I must have irritated some Kremlin officials”

The last peace voices purged

Ahead of the first State Duma elections since the invasion, authorities purged the last political elements advocating for peace.

Putin needs the veneer of support

The Kremlin wants the war to appear publicly supported. Putin said the elections will reaffirm stability and express the common will of millions.

Elections could expose war discontent

While the vote poses no threat to Putin, it offers Russians a chance to register displeasure with the war as drones strike deeper into Russia.

The systemic opposition charade

The Duma includes communists and nationalists, but they're all systemic opposition. United Russia holds 70 percent of seats, and the rest broadly support it.

“It's not like a parliament in European countries”

Nadezhdin's decades in the system

Nadezhdin spent his career in systemic opposition. He believed criticizing policy, not Putin himself, would let him remain an advocate for peace.

His presidential run shocked everyone

Two years ago, over 100,000 Russians endorsed Nadezhdin's anti-war presidential campaign before the election commission barred him, citing signature errors.

The pressure escalated quickly

In July, the Justice Ministry branded Nadezhdin a foreign agent. He was convicted of displaying extremist symbols and banned from leaving the country.

A suspicious exit window opened

After receiving a notice from the Investigative Committee, Nadezhdin saw his exit ban lifted. He and his wife flew to Kazakhstan, then Paris.

Yabloko became the last hope

As Nadezhdin fled, Russians turned to the liberal Yabloko party. Founded in 1993, it's the sole party opposing the Ukraine war.

Interest in Yabloko surged

In late July, traffic to Yabloko's social media platforms doubled. Its Instagram following grew by 100,000 in just weeks.

Apples became a protest symbol

Videos of people dancing with apples, Yabloko's namesake, flooded social media. One video on Red Square got 350,000 likes by late August.

“Yabloko, which never claimed to be anything serious, unexpectedly became the party people want to vote for”

Then Yabloko was banned too

A nationalist party sued Yabloko over Western donations. A Moscow court agreed and banned it from the party-list ballot in August.

The Kremlin miscalculated badly

Officials expected Yabloko to get few votes, proving no appetite for peace. When it gained steam, they had no choice but to ban it.

The war hits home harder

Drones explode over Moscow regularly. People wait in half-mile lines for fuel. Even ordering from Russia's Amazon equivalent has become unreliable.

Yabloko leaders face prison

Days after the party was banned, its deputy chairman Lev Shlosberg was sentenced to 11 years and one month for discrediting the armed forces.

The party may be liquidated

Former Duma representative Dmitry Gudkov predicts Yabloko will be destroyed. The system doesn't need it anymore.

“They will be destroyed. They are not needed for the system anymore”

Opposition now exists only in exile

Exiled politician Ilya Yashin formed a party called Peaceful Russia. But opposition figures abroad have little way to influence developments back home.

“Today, the opposition can be either underground or in exile or in prison”