Moscow authorities searched the head office of the Telegram news channel Baza on Tuesday early morning, the channel said in a statement.Officers also browsed the apartment or condo of Bazas editor-in-chief, Gleb Trifonov, who was not responding to call or messages, according to the outlet.
Next-door neighbors told Baza that police took Trifonov to an unidentified location.Baza, known for its pro-government leanings and close ties to law enforcement, frequently mentions confidential police sources in its reporting.
It has more than 1.6 million subscribers on Telegram.The channel stated several of its staff members were not responding to calls or messages following the search on Tuesday.There was no official confirmation of the searches or any arrests.
Nevertheless, the pro-Kremlin Telegram channel Nu Ranshe Vsekh released pictures and a video showing law enforcement officers inside Bazas office, with staff standing nearby.Initially, Baza stated it did not know the reason for the search, recommending just that it might be connected to a criminal examination launchedin among Russias regions.The channel later reported that Russias Investigative Committee, which probes significant crimes, had opened an examination into abuse of power, declaring that a law enforcement official dripped confidential information that was later on published on a Telegram channel.In a brief statement, investigators said cops searches connected to that examination were supposedly performed in Moscow and the regions of Krasnodar, Krasnoyarsk and Belgorod.
Authorities did not mention Baza specifically.Tuesdays searchescame almost 2 months after a comparable raid at the pro-government news outlet Ura.ru in Yekaterinburg, where the editor-in-chief was accused of bribing his uncle, a previous police official.