Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny can not run for presidency because of his criminal conviction, the Central Election Commission said in a statement on Friday, June 23, according to Reuters.

"Navalny does not have passive suffrage," said the statement, meaning he was ineligible to run for office.

Navalny was found guilty of embezzlement in February and given a five-year suspended prison sentence in a court case he says was organized to stop him running for president.