Meduza’s sources close to the Kremlin say Putin’s team registered an antiwar party as an experiment and shut it down, banning Yabloko from the ballot, when the polling came back

On July 29, Russia’s Central Election Commission registered the liberal party Yabloko for elections to the State Duma, the lower house of parliament.

On August 7, however, another party, Rodina, filed suit at Russia’s Supreme Court demanding that the decision be overturned.

Rodina said Yabloko had repeatedly violated copyright in its campaign materials and on its website, and that it had concealed “foreign funding.” Rodina also claimed to detect “signs of extremism” in Yabloko’s slogan, “For Peace and Freedom!”