Several Russian journalists in at least six regions were searched by police on Thursday on suspicion of ties to a former pro-Ukraine lawmaker and a legion of Russian soldiers fighting alongside Kyiv’s forces, The Moscow Times reported, citing Russian media.

Several journalists were reportedly searched in Moscow and Moscow Oblast, as well as the Oryol and Tyumen Oblasts of Western Siberia, as Russia took drastic measures at the start of the war in Ukraine to suppress dissent and the independent press.

Police in the Ural city of Yekaterinburg searched the home of Vladyslav Postnikov, editor-in-chief of the local Vechernye Vedomosti publication, and police in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don searched the home of journalist Bella Nasibian.

The state news agency RIA Novosti reported with reference to unnamed sources that some journalists had links to Telegram and YouTube channels “Utro февраля” (“February Morning”), which belong to former deputy Ilya Ponomaryov, an open opponent of the invasion of Ukraine.

A pro-Ukrainian deputy is accused of spreading “false information” about the Russian army

Last week, Ponomarev, who now lives in Kyiv, was accused of spreading “false information” about the Russian military. The crime was introduced shortly after the Kremlin sent troops to its pro-Western neighbor and is punishable by up to 10 years. prison in Russia.

“February Morning” denied information about his connections with journalists who covered the search, and accused the Russian authorities of wanting to purge independent journalism from the regions under the pretext of fighting “fake news” about the army.

Recently, the deputy claimed, without evidence, that he was in contact with Russian partisans who planted a bomb in a car bomb that killed Daria Dugin, the daughter of the ideologue of Ukrainian nationalism and supporter of the war Oleksandr Dugin.

At the same time, Moscow accused Kyiv of carrying out the August murder.

Journalists accused of involvement in the mysterious “Russian Legion”

Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency notes that police raids in Moscow have also been carried out in connection with the Russian Legion, a paramilitary group in Ukraine believed to have been formed by Russian soldiers who defected and pledged allegiance to Kyiv.

Ponomaryov was the only Russian deputy who voted against Ukraine’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and left Russia the same year.

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