Police Search Apartments Of Navalny Associates In Moscow

Investigators in Moscow have searched the apartments of two associates of outspoken Kremlin critic Aleksei Navalny.

Law-enforcement officials raided the apartments of Nikita Kulachenkov and Georgy Alburov in Moscow on July 9.

Lawyers for the two men told journalists later that the searches had been conducted in connection with a picture found last month in Navalny's apartment, which investigators claim had been stolen in the city of Vladimir, some 170 kilometers northeast of Moscow.

The case is one of several targeting Navalny, who is already serving a five-year suspended sentence on a separate 2013 theft charge.

Navalny is currently under house arrest in connection with a fraud case involving the French cosmetics company Yves Rocher.

Navalny denies any wrongdoing, saying all probes against him are politically motivated.

Based on reporting by Interfax and RIA Novosti