The Tagansky court of Moscow has decided to liquidate the Russian branch of UK's charity organisation - The Salvation Army.

The court has ruled in favour of the Russian Justice Ministry's suit against the UK organisation. The Justice Ministry brought an action against the Russian branch of The Salvation Army in July. Russian authorities demanded to liquidate the organisation due to its failure to get an official re-registration. Russian officials told the Salvation Army tried to be registered as a religious organisation whilst it is not true and that any way its charter documents are legally incorrect. According to The Times, the Russian Orthodox Church and Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov are trying to shut down the charity organisation because they are "bitterly opposed to the flowering of non-orthodox religions in post-communist Russia and regards the Salvation Army as a cultish religious group". Charity's lawyers are going to appeal against the court decision. The Salvation Army performed its first Russia's mission in 1913. The charity was liquidated by Lenin's order in 1923. The organisation returned only in 1992 and started supporting millions of Russians who suffered a difficult time after the collapse of communism in this country.