Former ‘Navalny Live’ director Alexey Yakovlev arrested at Moscow airport

On the evening of June 30, Russian law enforcement detained Alexey Yakovlev, the former broadcast director for the YouTube channel “Navalny Live,” on board a plane that had just landed at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.

Yakovlev told Open Media that he was taken to the Investigative Committee for questioning in connection with a fraud case against jailed opposition politician Alexey Navalny. He also said that earlier, investigators had called and summoned him for interrogation, but he refused to recognize the summons over the phone.

In addition, Yakovlev told Open Media that he’s a witness in the case.

Russian investigators launched a criminal case for large-scale fraud against Navalny on December 29, 2020. According to the investigation, Navalny embezzled hundreds of millions of rubles worth of donations from his Anti-Corruption Foundation (the FBK) and other non-profit organizations. In May, the Russian Investigative Committee summoned Navalny’s associates for questioning en masse in connection with fraud case.