Russian law enforcement officers on Thursday raided the Moscow apartment of Sergei Sokolov, the editor-in-chief of independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta, before taking him in for questioning.
Novaya Gazeta said contact with Sokolov was lost at around noon Moscow time before he was scheduled to lead an editorial planning meeting.
The publication said Sokolov was being transported to the Investigative Committee, Russia’s top investigative body, for questioning and that a lawyer was on their way to assist him.
The raid on Sokolov’s apartment was conducted as part of an ongoing criminal investigation opened earlier this spring, law enforcement sources told the RBC outlet.
Meanwhile, sources told the state-run news agency TASS that the investigation centered around the illegal use of personal information.
Investigators charged Novaya Gazeta’s managing editor Oleg Roldugin with the same crime earlier this year in April.
Roldugin, a veteran investigative journalist known for reporting on alleged corruption among top Russian officials, denies that he had illegally obtained and published personal information.
Baza, a Telegram news channel with links to Russia’s security services, reported that Roldugin was suspected of acting either, in coordination with, or under Sokolov’s instructions.
The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Russian law enforcement to immediately release Roldugin and stop what it described as the targeted prosecution of Novaya Gazeta.
Novaya Gazeta ceased print publication shortly after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine due to the draconian censorship laws that the government introduced as part of a broader crackdown on the press. The newspaper has continued to publish articles and videos online.
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