Russian Court Removes Yabloko Candidate Over Banksy, Sakharov Quotes

A Russian court disqualified a Yabloko party candidate from regional elections, citing references to street artist Banksy and quotes from dissident Andrei Sakharov and Soviet diplomat Andrei Gromyko. The party has now lost its candidate lists in four regions, indicating a coordinated legal campaign against opposition parties ahead of the vote. This continues a pattern of electoral suppression in Russia, with the specific use of cultural and historical references as grounds for disqualification being a notable escalation.