Maxim Kruglov, Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko Party, was arrested in connection with the fake news about the army
The lawyer insisted that Kruglov could not prevent the collection of evidence in the case. The investigation stated that the deputy chairman of Yabloko had connections with “influential political figures” and could leave the country.
Maxim Kruglov
Maxim Kruglov (Photo: Denis Panteleev / RBC)
Olga Chepurina, a judge at the Zamoskvoretsky District Court in Moscow, has sent Maxim Kruglov, a former member of the Moscow City Duma and deputy chairman of the Yabloko party, to pre-trial detention until November 29, at the request of the investigation. Kruglov is accused of spreading fake news about the Russian army through two posts on a Telegram channel published in April 2022, according to a RBC correspondent.
In the request for the politician’s arrest, the investigation stated that Kruglov would have the opportunity to leave Russia if he were released, as he has connections with “influential political figures” and his wife holds a residence permit in another country. However, Natalia Tikhonova, Kruglov’s lawyer, emphasized that the severity of the charges alone should not be the sole reason for choosing such a severe measure of restraint. Kruglov, according to the lawyer, cannot hinder the collection of evidence in the criminal case. Moreover, the politician’s passport has been confiscated, preventing him from leaving the country and evading the investigation.
During the hearing, Maxim Kruglov himself stated that he was not involved in any radical actions and had been a member of a party that operated within the legal framework since the age of 17. He described it as “absurd” and “extremely strange” that the investigator had requested his arrest for two publications from 2022. Kruglov, who described himself as a “supporter of Russian law,” assured the court that he would comply with the investigative authorities’ and court’s requests. Kruglov has a 2014 daughter and a wife, and he has asked the court not to deprive him of the opportunity to see his family and to choose a more lenient measure of restraint that does not involve imprisonment.
Grigory Yavlinsky and Yabloko’s head of staff, Yevgeniya Vlasova, provided personal guarantees for Maxim Kruglov. Yavlinsky vouched that Kruglov would appear at the investigator’s, prosecutor’s, and court’s call on time and would not evade the investigation. Nikolay Rybakov, the chairman of Yabloko, Kirill Goncharov, the deputy chairman of the Moscow branch of the party, and Alexey Arbatov, a former member of the State Duma, also provided similar guarantees. Nikolay Rybakov was willing to post a bail for his party member, but he left the amount to the court’s discretion.
Margarita Sukhanova, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Political Science at the State Academic University of the Humanities (SAUHS), where Kruglov taught Comparative Politics, sent a positive review of the politician’s work with students to the court. She noted that as a member of the Moscow City Duma, Maxim Kruglov had shared his knowledge about the work of legislative bodies with the students, and his efforts were always appreciated by both the university administration and the students.
After the list of sureties was announced, the court granted Tikhonova’s request to question Maxim Kruglov’s fellow party members, Nikolai Rybakov and Kirill Goncharov. The politicians unanimously described Kruglov as a calm, balanced, and non-confrontational individual who, according to Goncharov, had never been subject to administrative charges. “Maxim Kruglov is one of the most honest, respected, and decent people I know,” Goncharov said. He added that he could not imagine how Kruglov could be accused of violating the law.
A criminal case on “public dissemination of deliberately false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation” was opened by the Department for the Investigation of Particularly Important Cases of the Investigative Department for the Central Administrative District on October 1. The investigation believes that Kruglov published “false information” about the Russian army’s actions against the civilian population of Ukraine on his Telegram channel.
We are talking about two posts by the politician dated April 2 and 3, 2022. In one of them, Kruglov spoke about the “hell” in the city of Bucha, and in the other, he wrote about the fighting in Mariupol and the destruction in the city.
Maxim Kruglov was detained on October 1 in St. Petersburg, where he had gone to visit friends the day before. According to Natalia Tikhonova, Kruglov’s lawyer, the politician was brought to the Moscow office of the Investigative Committee only at two o’clock in the morning. Tikhonova noted that the current legislation prohibits interrogations at night, and as a result, relevant complaints were filed. Kruglov faces a potential sentence of 5 to 10 years in prison for spreading false information about the Russian army. During the interrogation, the politician stated that he did not remember posting such messages, so he did not admit guilt.
Kruglov was a member of the Moscow City Duma from 2019 to 2024. He won the election in the single-mandate constituency No. 14 with 39.3% of the vote. Kruglov became the Deputy Chairman of the Yabloko Party in December 2023. In 2024, he ran for a seat in the Moscow City Duma in the single-mandate constituency No. 13, but the election commission denied his registration. Kruglov’s election campaign was held under the slogan “For Peace and Freedom! For a ceasefire agreement!”
Maxim Kruglov is a Candidate of Political Sciences, teaches the discipline “Comparative political science” at the State Academic University for the Humanities.