Russian law enforcement officers raided the Yekaterinburg residence of Mikhail Volkov, the father of prominent opposition politician Leonid Volkov, a key ally of late Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny.
Leonid Volkov said the April 3 search was conducted under the guise of an investigation into the alleged financing of an extremist organization, namely the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), an organization founded by Navalny that was classified as extremist by the Russian government in 2021.
Authorities allege that 69-year-old Mikhail Volkov, a renowned mathematics professor, gave money to the FBK, known for its investigations into high-level corruption in what appears to be the latest escalation in the Russian government’s crackdown on dissent.
Leonid Volkov, who now lives in exile in an undisclosed European country, said officers from the FSB security service confiscated electronic devices from his father’s home.
The searches are "revenge for the work I have been doing, am doing, and do not intend to stop," he said.
Hours later, Volkov said on Telegram that his father was detained for interrogation and released later but ordered not to leave the city as a criminal case was officially launched against him.
The younger Volkov said earlier that his father, a distinguished mathematics professor, was dismissed from his position at the Ural Federal University in February 2025.
No reason was given for the dismissal, which Leonid Volkov said was an attempt to pile pressure on his family.
The April 3 raid and interrogation are the latest of several similar actions by Russian authorities on the families of opposition leaders who have fled the country.
In 2021, the father of Ivan Zhdanov, another prominent associate of Navalny and a former director of the FBK, was convicted of corruption, charges which he denies and his supporters call politically motivated.
Like Leonid Volkov, Zhdanov went into self-imposed exile to escape persecution from Russian authorities.
The Anti-Corruption Foundation, founded in 2011 by Aleksei Navalny, has been at the forefront of investigating corruption within Russia’s political elite.
The organization’s detailed reports have not only uncovered vast wealth amassed by high-ranking officials but also drawn significant attention and concern both domestically and internationally.
The Russian government designation of the FBK as an extremist organization meant its activities were banned and anyone connected to it -- including journalists who covered his court hearings -- could face criminal charges.
Human rights organizations have widely condemned this designation as an attempt to stifle one of the country’s most vocal anti-corruption movements.
Navalny died in February last year in a remote Russian prison while serving a 19-year prison term on charges many said were retribution for his pursuit of corruption around President Vladimir Putin.