How bad are things for Russia's oldest liberal democratic political party? Well, it's currently suing itself in Moscow.

The federal bureau of the “Yabloko” political party is being sued for refusing to nominate Moscow branch leader Sergey Mitrokhin as the party’s candidate in this September’s Moscow mayoral election. The party held primaries in Moscow, but the winner withdrew his candidacy in favor of Mitrokhin’s. Afterwards, Yabloko’s federal bureau refused to nominate Mitrokhin, though the party’s Moscow branch submitted his candidacy paperwork to the Moscow Election Commission.

It’s still unclear who exactly is suing Yabloko’s federal bureau: Mitrokhin or the party’s Moscow branch. Mitrokhin says the federal bureau’s refusal to nominate him constitutes a “gross violation of the party’s charter” and is meant to show “obedience” in a noncompetitive race that the incumbent, Sergey Sobyanin, is expected to win easily.