Oryol court arrests U.S. citizen for allegedly donating money to Alexey Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation

Source: Meduza

A court in the Russian city of Oryol has granted a request by investigators to arrest a 36-year-old U.S. citizen named Ilya Startsev on suspicion of donating money to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), the organization founded by jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny.

Startsev, who works as an English teacher, was detained in Moscow on Wednesday, after which he stopped responding to calls.

People who know Startsev told the news outlet Sever.Realii that he supported Alexey Navalny in Russia’s 2018 presidential election, though they did not know whether he made financial contributions to the FBK.

Russian security forces searched the homes of people suspected of donating money to the FBK in multiple regions of the country on Wednesday, including Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, and Krasnoyarsk.