Russian investigators have searched the home of a top associate of Kremlin foe Aleksei Navalny.
Navalny said on his webpage that law enforcement officers searched the Moscow apartment of Roman Rubanov, the director of his Anti-Corruption Foundation, and the homes of Rubanov's parents and sister outside the city on February 6.
He said he believed the searches were intended to put pressure on the anticorruption foundation, which has conducted high-profile investigations targeting powerful allies of President Vladimir Putin, and to undermine plans for an antigovernment protest on March 1.
Rubanov's lawyer, Sergei Badamshin, told reporters that police confiscated electronic information storage devices from his client's apartment.
He said the authorities informed him the search was conducted in connection with an artwork found last year in Navalny's apartment, which investigators claim was stolen.
Badamshin said Rubanov is being treated as considered a witness in the case, one of several targeting Navalny.
Navalny is under house arrest and has been convicted of large-scale theft in two trials he says were politically motivated.
