Yabloko suspends its Moscow branch chief after he tried to sue the party

Sergey Mitrokhin has called off his lawsuit against the federal bureau of his own political party, Yabloko, after declaring that he doesn’t have the votes to pass Moscow’s “municipal filter” for this September’s mayoral race. Hours later, Yabloko returned the favor by suspending Mitrokhin from office as the head of Yabloko’s Moscow branch, arguing that he tried to wreck the party’s campaign in Moscow to promote himself.

Mitrokhin filed a lawsuit against Yabloko on June 26, after the party’s federal bureau canceled the Moscow branch’s nomination of him as a mayoral candidate. In early June, the party held primaries won by Yakov Yakubovich, who then withdrew his candidacy in favor of Mitrokhin. The party’s federal bureau rejected this outcome and decided to nominate its own candidate: Elena Rusakova, the head of the Gagarinsky District.