Journalist Andrei Soldatov reported that a criminal case had been opened against him

Journalist Andrei Soldatov, who specializes in Russian intelligence services, reported that a criminal case has been opened against him.

"Monday started off cheerfully: all my accounts in Russian banks are under arrest, plus I found myself in the wanted list of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The case was opened on March 17, 2022, the case is presumably being handled by the Main Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation ," he wrote on social media.

It is unknown under what article the case was opened. Soldatov noted that the case number “differs by several digits from the case of [journalist] Michael Naki and [founder of Conflict Intelligence Team] Ruslan Leviev,” who are accused of disseminating “false information” about the use of Russian armed forces. Pavel Chikov, head of the international human rights group Agora, suggested that the case against Soldatov was opened under the same article — 207.3 of the Russian Criminal Code.

The soldier is outside of Russia.

The most high-profile publications by Andrey Soldatov and his co-author Irina Borogan in recent months have concerned the FSB's Operational Information and International Relations Service, which, according to their data, was responsible for providing Russian President Vladimir Putin with information about political events in Ukraine on the eve of the invasion.

In early March, Soldatov and Borogan wrote that the head of the service, General Sergei Beseda, was arrested shortly after the war began. Other sources called this information untrue and published evidence that the general was at large.