Law enforcement authorities on Thursday detained 3 staff members of Ura.ru, a pro-Kremlin news outlet, in a probe over reports citing anonymous police sources, the state-run TASS news agency reported.Denis Allayarov, the Sverdlovsk region editor, was reportedly detained at his Yekaterinburg home and denied access to a lawyer.
According to ura.ru, authorities have accessed to Allayarovs phone.Later on Thursday, Allayarov was charged with the bribery of a public official, according to the Kommersant organization news agency, citing a source in law enforcement.Authorities likewise apprehended reporter Sergei Bodrov and reporter Anna Salymskaya, TASS said.The investigators have an interest in the sources of details related to criminal activity reports in the Sverdlovsk region, ura.ru composed without defining which criminal offenses they are accused of.However, the investigation into the Sverdlovsk editorial office, which employs 10 people, has actually stopped the work of the whole company, which uses more than 200 people in eight Russian areas, it added.The outlet released a videoshowing plainclothes and masked officers escorting Allayarov into a van and ignoring his lawyers questions.Other videos showed an authorities raid on ura.rus editorial office, which included a masked representative wielding abat.Ura.ru stated investigatorsused force versus editor-in-chief Diana Kozlova throughout the raid.
She is stated to be undergoing a medical examination.Founded in 2006, ura.ru was initially known for investigative journalism andcritical reporting on local authorities in Russias Ural Mountains region.Its founder, Aksana Panova, was ousted in 2012 after being accused of fraud and extortion, causing management modifications and a modification in its editorial direction.Independent investigative outlet Proektreported in 2022, when Russia attacked Ukraine, that ura.ru had stopped vital protection of the Russian Defense Ministry and published various articles praising among its leaders in exchange for financial rewards.Artyom Bikov and Alexei Bobrov, Russian-born business owners withAustrian citizenship, are thought to be thebeneficiaries of ura.ru, according to banished former Yekaterinburg-based reporter Dmitry Kolezev.