Leonid Volkov, a close ally of late opposition activist Alexei Navalny,said Federal Security Service (FSB) agents searched the home of his elderly father in the Ural Mountains city of Yekaterinburg early Thursday.The state-run news agency TASS, citing anonymous police sources, reported that 69-year-old Mikhail Volkov could face criminal charges of financing an extremist organization.Volkov senior allegedly transferred money to Navalnys Anti-Corruption Foundation, according to the sources.Russian authorities labeled the activist organization extremist in 2021, putting employees, volunteers and supporters at risk of criminal prosecution.A Telegram news channel with connections to the Russian governmentposted a short video showing FSB agents handing the 69-year-old documents, though it was not immediately clear what kind of documents.
The channel claimed that he was placed under arrest.Volkov denied reports that his father was arrested on Thursday.
He said that law enforcement officials had only searched his fathers home and confiscated electronic devices as part of an investigation.The exiled activist said it was still unclear whether his father, a retired math professor, was being charged with any crimes.However, if confirmed, Volkov seniors arrest would mark thefirst instance of Russian authorities using anti-extremism laws to persecute the relatives of Navalny allies, according to the investigative news website Agentstvo.Volkov, 44, has lived outside Russia since the 2021 extremist designation of Navalnys Anti-Corruption Foundation.
In March 2024, he was briefly hospitalized after being attacked with a hammer outside his home in Lithuania.