First, you should be born in Russia. You needn’t be from a well-to-do family, but you must be shrewd, ambitious, and entirely without scruples.

Second, you work your way up through the government hierarchy by making yourself — through any means available — indispensable to someone in charge.

Third, you build an image of yourself as a tough guy.

Fourth, when you finally reach the pinnacle of power, you arrest or otherwise eliminate any opposing politicians who seem to be gaining in popularity.

And finally, you outlaw any and all political parties that may pose a threat to your absolute rule.

The first four steps have taken years to accomplish, and are already well known to the world at large. But that last step — simply declaring opposing political parties ineligible to run for Parliamentary representation — has just been established as precedent by Russia’s Supreme Court.

The party in question is known as Yabloko. It was formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 to assist in Russia’s hoped-for transition to a more Western-style economy and democratic society. One of its founders, economist Grigory Yavlinsky, led the party, and later served in the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s Parliament.

Yabloko still exists, but has lost influence under Putin’s reign. However, with popular sentiment against the war in Ukraine growing rapidly, the party’s increasing popularity has become worrisome to Putin. So he did what he always does: he eliminated it . . . in this instance, by engineering the filing of a lawsuit last week by the nationalist Rodina party, alleging a number of violations by Yabloko that included accepting funding from foreign interests, copyright infringements, and extremism (which can mean practically anything).

At the hearing on August 10th, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Rodina, barring Yabloko — the only party calling for an end to the war against Ukraine — from a place on the ballot in next month’s parliamentary elections.

Following the court’s decision, Yavlinsky wrote on X:

“Removing Yabloko from the elections exposes the true nature of the political system. The public demand for peace and freedom has turned out to be significantly stronger than the authorities anticipated.

“Yabloko represents probably the broadest coalition of opponents to the Putin regime seen in a long time.

“For a long time, both Russians remaining in the country and those forced into emigration were deprived of any opportunity to exert influence. Now, they are ready to support absolutely anyone — even the devil himself. First, to gain at least the illusion of having some influence, and second, to speak out against the war.” [RFE/RL’s Russia Service and Current Time, August 10, 2026.]

Yabloko’s current chairman, Nikolai Rybakov, has said that the party will do everything possible to make Russia “a thriving democratic state,” including appealing the Supreme Court’s ruling. [Id.]

But I think we can pretty well guess how that will turn out . . . leaving Putin with a rubber-stamp Parliament and a continuation of absolute authority.

Sound like anyone else you know?

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/12/26