Russian Supreme Court liquidates ‘Russia of the Future’ — the party that kept Navalny from registering his political party back in 2019

Russia’s Supreme Court has liquidated the political party “Russia of the Future” (“Rossiya Budushchego”) on the application of the Justice Ministry, reports Interfax. 

Notably, this party has no relation to the party by the same name, which opposition figure Alexey Navalny unsuccessfully applied to register in 2019. 

The “Russia of the Future” party that was dismantled on Monday, September 21, first appeared on the Justice Ministry’s list of registered political parties at the end of May 2019. Navalny had submitted the documents to register his party earlier that same month.

In June 2019, the Justice Ministry refused to register Navalny’s “Russia of the Future” party, on the grounds that there was already an existing political party with this name.

According to lawyer Ivan Zhdanov, Navalny’s team has no plans to re-submit the registration documents to the Justice Ministry following the Supreme Court’s decision. “We have communicated the case to the European Court of Human Rights, and we aren’t planning any new filings in the near future,” he said.

Opposition politician Alexey Navalny has been attempting to register his own political party under various names since 2012. His unsuccessful 2019 registration was his ninth attempt in a row. In previous years, the Justice Ministry refused to register his party on the grounds that there were already parties with the same names, or over alleged paperwork errors.

The previously registered “Russia of the Future” party could have been liquidated due to the fact that it has never participated in any elections.