The Moscow-based Zakharov Publishing House, which has published books by writer Grigory Chkhartishvili, known under the pen name Boris Akunin since the 1990s, said on December 19 that police had searched its offices.
The state's TASS news agency quoted a source in law enforcement as saying that the search was linked to an unspecified probe launched against Akunin.
The day before, Interfax news agency reported that an investigation on a charge of discrediting the Russian military was launched against the writer, who was added to the government's list of terrorists and extremists the same day.
Director Irina Bogat said the search was conducted most likely because her publishing house had not withdrawn Akunin's books from sales, unlike other publishing houses.
Last week, one of Russia's largest book publishers, AST, and the country's biggest bookstore chain, Chitai-Gorod-Bukvoyed, announced that they had dropped Akunin and Dmitry Bykov, another popular writer, over their pro-Ukrainian and anti-Russian comments.
Novy Mir (New World) literary magazine removed Akunin's two plays from its website recently.
In October, all Russian theaters staging plays based on Akunin's works removed his name from posters. Also, the Moscow House of Books was forced to remove Akunin's books from visible places at its exhibitions.
Akunin was among dozens of Russian writers who openly condemned Russia's aggression against Ukraine last year. On February 24, 2022, immediately after the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, he wrote on Facebook that "a new horrible epoch has started" in Russia.
"To the last moment I could not believe that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin would launch this absurd war and I was wrong. I have always believed that in the end, common sense will win, and I was wrong. Madness won," Akunin wrote.
Akunin left Russia in 2014, and currently resides in London.