Friday, September 18, 2026 - Masked police officers detained Boris Miklyukov, an election observer from Russia’s Yabloko party, at a polling station in the Rostov region as voting began on September 18.
According to Yabloko, two plainclothes officers wearing balaclavas and a uniformed police officer arrived at polling station No. 58 in the village of Yuzhny and took Miklyukov away in a vehicle.
The reason for the detention remains unclear, and Yabloko said it has been unable to contact Miklyukov.
The party said police interest may be linked to a social-media comment he previously made. Miklyukov had also faced a fine in 2022 under Russia’s law concerning the “discrediting” of the military, according to reports.
The incident comes as Russians begin a three-day parliamentary election running from September 18 to 20, with Yabloko campaigning under an anti-war message.
The detention has drawn attention to the treatment of election observers and anti-war political activity during the vote, while the authorities had not publicly explained the reported detention at the time of reporting.
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