Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) and municipal police have reportedly searched offices of the Church of Scientology in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
Law enforcement sources were quoted by several Russian news agencies on June 21 as saying the searches were part of an investigation into allegations of "illegal entrepreneurship."
However, there was no official confirmation of the investigation.
In November, a court in Moscow ruled that the Church of Scientology Moscow must close because it had been registered as a trademark rather than as a religious organization.
Scientologists have been trying to appeal the ruling at the Russian Supreme Court.
The Church of Scientology was founded in 1954 on the basis of a controversial collection of religious and philosophical teachings by the late American science fiction writer L. Ronald Hubbard.
