---
title: "«Let the Sun Always Shine» as a Reason for Ban: How the Supreme Court Disqualified Yabloko from the 2026 Elections"
description: "🚨 The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation disqualified Yabloko from the elections due to the song \"Let the Sun Always Shine\" and 16,900 rubles of foreign financing. The political farce of August 2026! 🇷🇺 #Yabloko #Elections2026 #Politics"
date: 2026-08-12T16:00:59.000Z
lang: en
url: https://xab.info/en/posts/let-the-sun-always-shine-supreme-court-yabloko-2026
tags: [russia, elections, yabloko, supreme-court, political-scandal]
publisher: "XAB.info"
---

# «Let the Sun Always Shine» as a Reason for Ban: How the Supreme Court Disqualified Yabloko from the 2026 Elections

![Gavel shatters the logo of the 'Yabloko' party and a sun symbol, illustrating the ban on participation in the 2026 elections](https://xab.info/media/2026/08/12/verkhovnyy-sud-ryabloko-2026/verkhovnyy-sud-ryabloko-2026-1.webp)

## 🎯 Key Points

- The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation disqualified Yabloko from the elections due to copyright violation of the song "Let the Sun Always Shine."
- The accusation of foreign financing amounted to only 16,900 rubles.
- The use of Facebook was recognized as extremism.
- The sharp rise in Yabloko's ratings caused panic within the system.
- The legal reasons for the party's disqualification seem fabricated and absurd.

August 2026 entered the history of Russian political satire, but unfortunately not as a humorous month, but as a time when the legal system demonstrated an unprecedented level of absurdity. On August 10, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation made a decision that many experts are already calling the "case of the century" or a "political farce." The Yabloko party was disqualified from the State Duma elections for reasons that, in another context, would look like a plot for a satirical show, but in reality became a tool of political struggle.

### War Against the "Sun" and Soviet Classics

One of the central reasons for the ban was the accusation of "malicious violation of copyright." The judges found violations in the use of a line from the legendary Soviet song "Let the Sun Always Shine," which a journalist quoted during an interview with Grigory Yavlinsky. According to the court, this was an illegal use of intellectual property within the framework of election campaigning. The situation was complicated by the fact that Mikhail Ostrovsky, the son and legal heir of the composer, publicly stated to the press that he was absolutely not against it and personally allowed Yabloko to use his father's song. However, the court ignored this statement.

In addition, the party was accused of illegally using the phrase "As long as there is no war" from Alexander Volodin's play "Five Evenings." The court considered this to be pirated quoting without the permission of the rights holders. Even an image generated by a neural network became a cause for accusations. The court ruled that using ChatGPT and image generators without a licensing agreement with the American corporation OpenAI is a direct violation of copyright, unacceptable for a State Duma candidate.

### Foreign Financing Amounting to 16,900 Rubles

The financial block of the accusation, prepared by the Central Election Commission and Rosfinmonitoring, looks no less comical. Rosfinmonitoring discovered that Yabloko has 72 counterparties (technical contractors, printing houses, regional employees) whose personal accounts received transfers from abroad over the last couple of years — from relatives, from the sale of personal stocks, or from old savings. In total, they counted about 80 million rubles. Of all these people, only 7 donated to the party's official election fund. The total amount of "criminal" foreign financing, for which the entire party was disqualified, amounted to 16,900 rubles. These were penny donations from Russian citizens temporarily residing abroad.

### Facebook Extremism

Since Meta is recognized as an extremist organization in Russia, the placement of links to the party's campaign materials on Facebook (even by ordinary users or regional activists) was interpreted by the court as "using the infrastructure of an extremist organization to conduct political activities." This became another reason for accusations and, ultimately, for the disqualification of the party from the elections.

### Contradictory Data

On the one hand, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation insists that all accusations against Yabloko are based on strict compliance with legislation. On the other hand, many experts and political scientists believe that these accusations are fabricated and used for political pressure. For example, Mikhail Ostrovsky publicly stated that he is not against the use of his father's song, but the court ignored this statement. Also, the fact that the total amount of "criminal" foreign financing amounted to only 16,900 rubles raises questions, as this seems like an insignificant sum for such a serious accusation.

### Analytical Context: Why Was This Trash Possible?

Political scientists and specialized media (including "Verstka" and BBC) agree that the absurdity of the reasons directly proves the haste and panic within the system. Initially, the Kremlin's domestic political block agreed to Yabloko's participation in the elections. The logic was simple — the party, without bright leaders, would get its standard 1–1.5%, which would allow them to claim: "Look, anti-war sentiments in Russia are shared by an absolute minority, they are marginal." However, the plan failed when closed sociological polls (in particular, Russian Field) recorded a sharp rise in the party's ratings in major cities. Against the backdrop of a general rise in anxiety in society (due to constant UAV raids and rumors of a new mobilization), Yabloko, with its ultra-short 43-word program ("For an agreement on a ceasefire and peace"), became the only legal way to vote in protest. The final straw was the public appeal by Yulia Navalnaya and other political emigrants to unite and vote for the "second number" on the ballot (the number that Yabloko drew in the CEC lottery). The security forces and the presidential administration realized that it smelled like an uncontrolled referendum against the current course, and initiated an emergency disqualification. Since the ballots had already been printed, the legal reason had to be squeezed out of a finger literally a couple of days before — thus was born the historic case on the protection of copyright for the phrase "Let the Sun Always Shine".

## ❓ FAQ

### Q: Why did the Supreme Court disqualify Yabloko from the elections?
**A:** The Supreme Court disqualified Yabloko from the elections due to copyright violation of the song "Let the Sun Always Shine" and accusations of foreign financing.

### Q: What is the amount of foreign financing for which Yabloko was disqualified?
**A:** The total amount of "criminal" foreign financing amounted to 16,900 rubles.

### Q: Why is the use of Facebook recognized as extremism?
**A:** Meta is recognized as an extremist organization in Russia, so placing links to the party's campaign materials on Facebook is considered using the infrastructure of an extremist organization.