Russia has opened a criminal investigation against opposition leader Alexei Navalny on suspicion of fraud and money laundering, the federal investigative committee said today.
Mr Navalny, a high-profile anti-corruption blogger who has organised protests in the past 12 months against President Vladimir Putin, already faces charges of theft which he says are politically motivated and part of a Kremlin clampdown on dissent.
The federal investigative committee, a government agency, said on its website that Navalny and his brother were being investigated over the alleged theft of 55 million roubles ($1.79 million) by a trading company they are involved in.
It announced the investigation one day before the opposition plans a new march against Putin in Moscow.
Mr Navalny was not immediately available for comment. He has denied the earlier charges, over the alleged theft of timber from a state company in the Kirov region when he was advising the governor there in 2009.
He is threatened with 10 years in jail if found guilty of the earlier charges.
Reuters