VK Video cuts off opposition party Yabloko's fundraising livestream
Russian platform VK Video abruptly interrupted a fundraising livestream by the antiwar Yabloko party featuring party chairman Nikolai Rybakov. Yabloko continued the broadcast on YouTube.
Russia's antiwar Yabloko party experienced an unexpected disruption when its livestream on the VK Video platform was suddenly cut off nearly two hours after it began. The broadcast, titled "Peaceful Stream," was interrupted one hour and 51 minutes in, and the reason for the interruption remains unclear. Following the cutoff, the party continued the broadcast on YouTube.
The stream's main purpose was to raise funds for Yabloko's election campaign. During the broadcast, party chairman Nikolai Rybakov answered viewer questions and discussed the progress of the campaign, as well as the party's ongoing struggle to take part in the elections.
At the moment the stream was cut, a donation counter showed that Yabloko had raised nearly 542,000 rubles toward its two-million-ruble goal. However, party representatives said that more than 600,000 rubles had actually been collected by that point.
Mounting obstacles in the election process
Yabloko has recently faced a growing number of hurdles in its bid to participate in the elections. The party's candidate lists have already been removed from ballots in four regions following lawsuits filed by other parties, while election commissions in two additional regions, including St. Petersburg, have refused to register them.
On August 10, Russia's Supreme Court invalidated Yabloko's federal candidate list following a lawsuit brought by the Rodina party. Rodina alleged a copyright violation in Yabloko's campaign materials and claimed to have identified donations to Yabloko from individuals who had previously received transfers from abroad.
