The creators of a YouTube channel that broadcasts an online series about a fictional chairman of the executive committee of the Russian Far Eastern city of Ussuriisk say a probe has been launched against them.
Producer Andrei Klochkov said on November 9 that police searched his home and homes of his team members last week, saying that they are suspected of "major hooliganism."
Members of the team have not been charged with any crimes.
According to Klochkov, the probe is related to one of the series' episodes issued in September, in which the main character of the show, the fictional Vitaly Nalivkin, shoots a grenade launcher but misses the target and hits a campaign billboard of the ruling United Russia party.
The video was released shortly after local elections were held in the country.
A woman who played the role of an Interior Ministry spokeswoman in the video, Larisa Krivonosova, was subsequently sentenced to 10 days in jail for illegally wearing a police uniform.
Police said she was jailed for a parole violation.
Last month, the 43-year-old Krivonosova received a three-month sentence for what police called a parole violation. Police said she had been released on parole in 2017 after serving an unspecified amount of time for the "premeditated infliction of health damage." There were no further details given concerning the charge.
The satirical online show about Nalivkin mocks the everyday life of ordinary people and the behavior of local authorities in Russian provinces.
Earlier this year, Andrei Neretin, who plays the role of Nalivkin in the show, was sentenced to five days in prison and fined for "minor hooliganism" after an episode about a corrupt police officer was posted on YouTube.
