Moscow authorities raid homes of investigative journalist’s parents and wife in connection with ‘illegal border crossing’ charges

Police officers in Moscow have returned to the home of The Insider editor-in-chief Roman Dobrokhotov’s parents. Hours later, federal agents also brought in Dobrokhotov’s wife for questioning (reportedly without granting her access to a lawyer). The investigative journalist’s attorney, Yulia Kuznetsova, says her client is now charged with illegally crossing the Russian border.

“They’re seizing all the phones and computers again and taking them in for interrogation,” Dobrokhotov wrote on Twitter. 

The authorities already raided the Dobrokhotovs’ home earlier this year in July in connection with a defamation lawsuit filed by a Dutch blogger named Max van der Werff, whom Roman Dobrokhotov has accused of cooperating with Russia’s military intelligence community to publicize “alternative narratives” about the causes of the MH17 plane crash in Ukraine. The July 2021 raids occurred just a few days after Russia’s Justice Ministry designated The Insider as a “foreign agent.” Dobrokhotov is currently listed as a witness (not a suspect) in the defamation case.