A court in the northwestern Pskov region released opposition politician Lev Shlosberg from house arrest pending trial for his criticism of the invasion of Ukraine, the Yabloko party’s press service said Tuesday.
Shlosberg, a senior Yabloko member who has remained in Russia despite his opposition to the war, faces up to five years in prison if found guilty of repeatedly “discrediting” the military. The 62-year-old politician was already fined twice on administrative charges for the same offense.
The Pskov City Court ruled to impose a ban on certain activities instead of continuing Shlosberg’s house arrest, which he has been under since June. Yabloko said Shlosberg was barred from using the internet, a phone and communicating with anyone outside his household for four months.
Local media reported that the Pskov court system’s Telegram channel preemptively published — and then deleted — a post wrongly claiming that the court had extended Shlosberg’s house arrest by another two months.
Authorities accuse Shlosberg of calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine during a January debate, a video of which was published on the Russian social media website Odnoklassniki.
Yabloko is one of Russia’s few legal opposition parties. It has consistently opposed the war in Ukraine and called for a ceasefire, though it has faced declining visibility and pressure under wartime censorship laws.
Shlosberg also faces a separate criminal case for allegedly failing to comply with Russia’s “foreign agent” law. Russia’s Justice Ministry labeled the opposition politician a “foreign agent” in June 2023.
Some exiled opposition figures have criticized Shlosberg for not taking a harder line against the war, which he has called a “tragedy” on social media.
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