Moscow | The Russian police entered the premises of the opposition media MBKh Media and the organization “Open Russia” on Friday, both linked to the oligarch in exile and Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, their teams announced.
“The police entered the offices of MBKh Media in Moscow. We do not know what this is related to and whether there will be investigative procedures “such as searches, the editorial staff of this opposition news site said in a statement.
Police officers also arrived at the premises of “Open Russia”, which since 2017 has been one of the foreign organizations active in Russia considered “undesirable”, according to a controversial law passed in 2015.
“We know that they are there, but we still do not know for what reason”, indicated on MBKh Media the director of the organization, Andrei Pivovarov.
“Putin said he wanted to discuss democracy with Biden. But his followers want to seize a few phones … Well let’s discuss democracy, ”Mikhail Khodorkovsky said ironically on Twitter.
The editorial staff of MBKh Media had already been searched on July 9 and September 9, 2020 in the context of a case involving the former Yukos firm of Mr. Khodorkovsky and dating from 2003.
“Open Russia”, which has set itself the objective of bringing together pro-European forces in Russia in order to constitute a unified opposition, had in particular been raided on August 9, 2020 in the same case.
On March 14, Russian police arrested around 200 people during an opposition forum in Moscow, including dozens of local deputies, on the grounds that the rally was organized by “Open Russia”.
This organization was founded in September 2014 by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former Russian oligarch at the head of the oil giant Yukos until his arrest in 2003 and the controversial dismantling of his firm.
He spent nearly ten years in prison for “large-scale fraudulent theft” and “tax evasion” before being pardoned in 2013 by President Vladimir Putin and going into exile in Europe.