Putin opponents condemn Russia regional elections as farce
Polls have opened in regional elections in Russia, which opposition activists say are a farce, after hundreds of anti-war candidates were barred from running.
Ballots are being held in almost every part of the country at various different levels, from local councils to regional governors.
But only a handful of races will feature a candidate from Yabloko, the only political party in Russia that opposes the war in Ukraine.
Graffiti reading ‘no to war’ in Moscow
The party says it put forward around 350 candidates in total but that only 65 were allowed on the ballot after authorities found irregularities with their paperwork.
“Right now, the authorities want deputies at all levels to be as loyal as possible,” Maria Chuprina, one of Yabloko’s barred candidates, told Sky News.
“Such is the current federal agenda, there shouldn’t be anything that reminds us that Russia is in conflict.”
Maria Chuprina, from the Yabloko party, campaigning
Ms Chuprina attempted to run for a seat in the Moscow City Duma and was required to gather thousands of signatures of support to register her candidacy.
But despite meeting the benchmark, her application was rejected on the basis that it wasn’t filled out correctly.
Some supporters’ details supposedly contained commas and full stops in the wrong place.
“If someone wrote their address differently to how it’s written in their passport, then their signature was considered invalid, even if it was written by a real person,” she said.
“For example, the passport says Number 15, but they wrote No.15, then it’s invalid.”
Ms Chuprina appealed against the decision in court but a judge ruled against her.
“The huge number of documents [that candidates must submit] allows them to come up with any reason they want,” she said.
“This is solely a protective measure so authorities can decide who is allowed on the ballot and who isn’t.”
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Yabloko’s slogan “Za Mir i Svobodu” translates as “For Peace and Freedom”. A second line calls for a ceasefire.
The mere utterance of such words in Russia can result in a prison sentence – there have been countless examples since the start of the war in Ukraine.
So why are some still willing to take the risk?
A military enlistment stand at a metro station in Moscow
“There’s no other way for us,” Nikolay Rybakov, Yabloko’s leader, told Sky News.
“We are on a big train but this train is on the way to catastrophe. We need to stop this train.”
By contrast, the Communist Party, which is portrayed as an opposition group, has been allowed to register more than 3,000 candidates.
But then again, the party supports both the war in Ukraine and Vladimir Putin.
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Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov at a campaign event in central Moscow
“He’s on the same level as King Arthur and the Round Table,” said Roman Ustyuzhanin, a Communist Party candidate in Moscow, when asked how Russia’s president compares with other leaders.
“A personality on a par with Peter the Great. But not Napoleon, Putin is bigger,” he added.
With opposition like that, there’s no need for the Kremlin to worry – the results are a foregone conclusion.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
The Israeli Air Force is regarded as one of the country’s most elite units.
So, when hundreds of current and former pilots call for an end to the war in Gaza to get the hostages out, Israelis take notice.
This month, 1,200 pilots caused a storm by signing an open letter arguing the war served mainly “political and personal interests and not security ones”.
The pilots’ protest letter
Part of the letter translated
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the original letter was written by “bad apples”.
But Guy Paron, a former pilot and one of those behind the letter, said the Israeli government had failed to move to phase two of the ceasefire deal with Hamas, brokered under US President Donald Trump.
That deal called for a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of all the remaining hostages. Mr Netanyahu continues to argue that the war must continue to put pressure on Hamas.
Mr Paron said the (Israeli) government “gave up or violated a signed agreement with Hamas” and “threw it to the trash”.
“You have to finish the deal, release the hostages, even if it means stopping that war,” he argued.
It’s not the first time Israeli pilots have taken up a cause. Many of them also campaigned against Mr Netanyahu’s 2023 judicial reforms.
“In this country, 1,000 Israeli Air Force pilots carry a lot of weight,” Mr Paron added.
“The Air Force historically has been the major force and game-changer in all of Israel’s wars, including this current one. The strength of the Air Force is the public’s guarantee of security.”
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UN runs out of food aid in Gaza
Anti-government campaign spreads
Now, the open letter campaign has spread to other parts of the military.
More than 15,000 people have signed, including paratroopers, armoured corps, navy, special units, cyber and medics. The list goes on.
Dr Ofer Havakuk has served 200 days during this war as a combat doctor, mostly in Gaza, and believes the government is continuing the war to stay in power.
He has also signed an open letter supporting the pilots and accused the prime minister of putting politics first.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the authors of the original letter as ‘bad apples’. Pic: AP
He said Mr Netanyahu “wants to keep his coalition working and to keep the coalition together. For him, this is the main purpose of the war”.
A ceasefire could lead to the collapse of the prime minister’s fragile far-right coalition, which is opposed to ending the war.
Threat of dismissal
The Israeli military has threatened to dismiss those who have signed protest letters.
We met a former pilot who is still an active reservist. He didn’t want to be identified and is worried he could lose his job.
“This is a price that I’m willing to pay, although it is very big for me because I’m volunteering and, as a volunteer, I want to stay on duty for as long as I can,” he told us.
The controversy over the war and the hostages is gaining momentum inside Israel’s military.
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It is also exposing deep divisions in society at a time when there is no clear sign about how the government plans to end the war in Gaza, or when.
The renewed war in Gaza over the last year and a half followed deadly Hamas attacks on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and saw around 250 taken hostage.
More than 51,000 people have been killed in Gaza during the Israeli military’s response, many of them civilians, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
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