Ilya Yashin facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Ilya Yashin
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Илья Яшин
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Yashin in 2024
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| Chairman of the Council of Deputies of Krasnoselsky district | |
| In office 7 October 2017 – 27 July 2021 |
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| Member of the Council of Deputies of Krasnoselsky district | |
| In office 7 October 2017 – 11 September 2022 |
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| Leader of PARNAS | |
| In office 2012–2016 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born | 29 June 1983 Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Political party | Yabloko (2000—2008) PARNAS (2010–2016) Independent (2008–2010, since 2016) |
| Other political affiliations |
Solidarnost (since 2008) |
| Residence | Moscow |
| Alma mater | International Independent University of Environmental and Political Sciences, graduate school of the National Research University – Higher School of Economics |
| Signature |  |
| Website | Yashin's mayoral campaign |
Ilya Valeryevich Yashin (born 29 June 1983) is a Russian politician who speaks out against the government. He was a leader of the People's Freedom Party (PARNAS) from 2012 to 2016. He also served as the head of the Krasnoselsky district in Moscow and was chairman of its local council from 2017 to 2021.
Yashin helped start a youth movement called Oborona in 2005. Later, in 2008, he co-founded the political movement Solidarnost, where he is still a leader. He took part in many protests in Russia, including the "Dissenters' March" and the large protests from 2011 to 2013. In 2012, he was chosen to be part of the Russian Opposition Coordination Council.
After the 2022 events in Ukraine, the government started to crack down more on opposition figures. Many people saw Yashin as one of the most important opposition voices who had not left the country, been put in prison, or been killed. In June 2022, he was arrested. He was later accused of spreading false information about the Russian military under new laws. In December 2022, he was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison. Yashin was set free in August 2024 as part of a prisoner exchange.
Contents
Biography
Early Life and Education
Ilya Yashin was born in Moscow, Russia, on 29 June 1983. He went to a school that focused on Russian language and literature, and also an art school. In 2000, he started studying Political Science at the International Independent University of Environmental and Political Sciences. He finished his studies in 2005 with a paper on how to organize protests. From 2007, he continued his studies in Political Science at the Graduate School of Economics.
Political Journey
From 2001 to 2008, Ilya Yashin led the youth group of the Yabloko political party. He organized many protests and spoke to the media about their goals. However, in 2008, he joined the Solidarnost movement. Because of this, the Yabloko party removed him, saying he was "causing political damage." In 2005, Yashin ran for a seat in the Moscow parliament. He later became a close helper to another well-known opposition figure, Boris Nemtsov.
After joining Solidarnost, Yashin was chosen to be part of the movement's main political council. Other important opposition leaders like Boris Nemtsov and Garry Kasparov were also part of this group.
In 2009, Yashin managed Nemtsov's campaign for mayor in Sochi. Nemtsov received 13.6% of the votes. Yashin said there were many problems with the voting process, like fake votes and pressure on people watching the elections. Even with these issues, the official result was still considered quite high.
Later that year, Solidarnost suggested Yashin and others for the Moscow City Duma elections. However, the election officials said that all the signatures collected to support him were not valid. They claimed the signature forms did not follow the rules. Yashin was not allowed to run in the election. Other Solidarnost members were also prevented from running.
Yashin is known for giving strong speeches at protests against the government. He actively takes part in the Strategy-31 campaign, which supports the right for people to gather peacefully. In 2005, he spoke out against the Nashi movement, a youth group that supports President Vladimir Putin.
As a member of Solidarnost, he joined anti-government protests in Kaliningrad in 2010. On 31 December 2010, Yashin was arrested in Moscow during another Strategy-31 protest. He was held by the police for fifteen days. He said that the police made up evidence against him. Amnesty International called him a "prisoner of conscience," meaning someone imprisoned for their beliefs.
On 5 December 2011, Yashin and another opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, led a march that was not approved by the authorities. They were stopped and held by the police. Yashin also organized and joined other protests in late 2011 and early 2012. In February 2012, Yashin and other activists hung a very long banner that said "Putin, go away" in front of the Kremlin. It took the police over an hour to take it down.
On 22 October 2012, Yashin was elected to the Russian Opposition Coordination Council. He received over 32,000 votes and became a member of this council. The council was created to help opposition groups work together and make political demands. Its members were meant to serve for one year. By the end of that year, many people had left the group or no longer wanted to continue their work.
On 27 October 2012, Yashin was arrested along with Sergei Udaltsov and Alexei Navalny. This happened when they tried to join a protest in Moscow. They were protesting after another activist, Leonid Razvozzhayev, was reportedly taken from Kyiv, Ukraine. The three were accused of disturbing public order.
On 23 February 2016, Yashin presented a report that criticized Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Despite being bothered by police and people trying to stop him, Yashin said Kadyrov was a danger to Russia's safety and should step down. The report talked about Kadyrov encouraging violence against opposition activists and law enforcement.
Moscow Local Deputy
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On 10 September 2017, Yashin was elected as a local deputy for the Krasnoselsky district in Moscow. His Solidarnost team won 7 out of 10 seats in this area. On 25 September 2017, he officially started his job. Then, on 7 October 2017, Ilya Yashin was chosen to be the chairman of the council of deputies for the Krasnoselsky municipal district.
One of Yashin's first ideas as chairman was to stop large payments given to local government employees when they retired. He suggested this to the Moscow City Duma in October 2017. He did this because his predecessor, who was from the United Russia party, asked for a payment of 500,000 rubles (about US$5,600). She said this was half of what she was owed and that the money could not be used for other things. Yashin thought these payments were like "golden parachutes," which are large sums of money given to people leaving a job. In December 2017, Yashin decided not to use the official car and driver that came with his position. From April 2018, this car was used as a social taxi for children living in the district.
On 11 April 2018, Yashin announced that he planned to run for Moscow mayor in the 2018 election. He aimed to win against the current mayor, Sergey Sobyanin.
On 25 June 2021, he was prevented from running in the upcoming legislative election. This happened because he was considered an "extremist." He believed this was due to his support for Alexei Navalny.
Arrest and Time in Prison
On 4 March 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a new law. This law introduced prison sentences of up to 15 years for anyone who published "knowingly false information" about the Russian armed forces.
On 27 June 2022, Ilya Yashin was arrested in Moscow by local police. The next day, 28 June, Yashin was sentenced to 15 days in detention for not obeying a police officer. Yashin said that his case was politically motivated. He believed it was meant to silence his views on the events in Ukraine.
On 12 July, the Investigative Committee of Russia accused Yashin of "discrediting the Russian Armed Forces." His home was also searched. On 13 July, a court ordered him to be held before his trial. Yashin was tried because of a YouTube video he released in April 2022. In the video, he talked about the discovery of murdered Ukrainian civilians in the town of Bucha, near Kyiv. The state prosecutor asked for nine years in prison for Yashin. Amnesty International and other groups asked the government to release him right away. They saw his case as part of a crackdown on people who criticized the events.
On 9 December, a Moscow court sentenced Yashin to eight years and six months in prison. This was for his statements about the killings in Bucha. He was charged with "spreading false information" about the armed forces. His punishment was the harshest given under the new laws that make it a crime to spread "false" information about the military. In his final words to the court before the decision, Yashin said: "It's as if they will sew my mouth shut and I would be forbidden to speak forever. Everyone understands that this is the point. I am isolated from society because they want me to be silent. I promise as long as I’m alive I’ll never will be. My mission is to tell the truth. I will not give up the truth even behind bars. After all, quoting the classic: 'Lie is the religion of slaves.'"
Yashin said about Russian President Vladimir Putin that "Strong leaders are calm and self-confident, and only weaklings seek to shut everyone up, burn out any dissent." Before his sentencing, he urged Putin to "immediately stop this madness, recognise that the policy on Ukraine was wrong, pull back troops from its territory and switch to a diplomatic settlement of the conflict." He also said to Putin: "You have brought terrible misfortune to the Ukrainian people, who will probably never forgive us."
In his closing speech, he said that "it is better to spend 10 years behind bars as an honest man than silently burning with shame for the blood that your government sheds."
On 19 April 2023, Yashin lost his appeal against his eight and a half year sentence at the Moscow City Court. In his speech to the court, Yashin called Putin a wanted war criminal. He also said that Putin's war censorship laws go against the 1993 Russian Constitution, which clearly says that censorship is not allowed.
On 1 August 2024, Yashin was part of a prisoner exchange in Ankara, even though he did not want to be. He was sent to the West in exchange for several Russian agents and other criminals from Western prisons. However, Yashin said he was against the fact that one of the prisoners exchanged for his freedom was Vadim Krasikov. Krasikov had been sentenced to life in prison for the murder of a Chechen dissident in Germany in 2019.
After his release in August 2024, Yashin spoke at a rally in Berlin. He said he would try to reach as many people in Russia as possible through his YouTube channel, which has almost 1.7 million followers. He explained: "We need to talk to them, and we need to pull these people out of the shackles of Putin’s propaganda. We need to explain that this monstrous war against Ukraine ... is a war against Russia too, because this war is crippling ... entire generations. It is taking away the future of our country."
In December 2024, Russia put Yashin on a wanted list. This was because he refused to call himself a "foreign agent." In January 2025, Yashin announced that Russian authorities had questioned his parents in Russia and searched their home. He called the authorities' pressure on the families of Russian dissidents "disgusting."
Electoral History
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
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| Ilya Yashin | 919 | 37.24% | Elected  |
| Total | 2470 | 22.28% | |
| Source: | |||
See Also
- Putin. War
- Russian 2022 war censorship laws
Images for kids
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Ilya Yashin's signature
