Brussels, 6 June 2018 (ITUC OnLine): The ITUC has welcomed a decision of the Russian Supreme Court, overturning a 10 January ruling from the Saint Petersburg City Court which would have dissolved the Interregional Trade Union Workers' Association (ITUWA), a member organisation of the ITUC-affiliated Confederation of Labour of Russia (KTR) and of Global Union Federation IndustriALL.

The Saint Petersburg court had ruled in favour of prosecutors who claimed that ITUWA had breached trade union registration technicalities, that it had contravened the law concerning "foreign agents" through its cooperation with IndustriALL, and that it had engaged in political activities by publishing materials opposing tax increases on truckers and by collecting signatures online to support changes to the labour code. The union successfully argued in the Supreme Court that none of the allegations involved contraventions of the labour code, and the decision of the Saint Petersburg court was overruled.

ITUWA President Alexey Etmanov acknowledged the support from the KTR, IndustriALL and the ITUC's other Russian affiliate FNPR.

"This is an important decision from the Supreme Court, throwing out an erroneous and political decision of the Saint Petersburg court. We are very pleased that ITUWA as an affiliate of the KTR will be able to continue to stand up for the rights of its members, and wish the union every success, including at its Congress in the coming months. We also want to acknowledge the support from all the other organisations that stood in solidarity with ITUWA," said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.