Key facts
- Elena Perepelitsa, a 60-year-old member of the Yabloko party, was detained in Moscow.
- The detention is linked to alleged donations to a banned organization.
- Yabloko is a liberal party that opposes the war in Ukraine.
- This follows the recent seven-year jail sentence for Yabloko's deputy leader, Maxim Kruglov, for spreading lies about the Russian army.
- Russia is preparing for State Duma elections in September.
A member of Russia's liberal Yabloko party, Elena Perepelitsa, 60, was detained in Moscow on Thursday. The party stated the detention is in connection with alleged donations to a banned organization. Perepelitsa's detention comes eight days after Yabloko's deputy leader, Maxim Kruglov, was convicted of spreading lies about the Russian army and sentenced to seven years in prison. Yabloko, which opposes the war in Ukraine, holds a limited number of seats in regional parliaments but none at the national level. The party's participation in the upcoming September State Duma elections provides a platform for its anti-war views, which authorities have sought to suppress. In a separate development, Forbes reported the death of journalist Sergei Mingazov, 57, who had been facing a protracted court case on charges of spreading false information about the war. Forbes stated Mingazov died of cancer.