Russia declares Khodorkovsky arrested in absentia, issues international warrant

Earlier this month, investigators accused Khodorkovsky, who spent 10 years in jail before he was pardoned by Putin in 2013, of involvement in the 1998 killing of a Siberian mayor.

The searches were performed as a part of an inquiry into Khodorkovsky’s Yukos oil company activities started in 2003.

Khodorkovsky’s Open Russia movement said police had also searched some of its employees’ apartments in Moscow and St Petersburg and had taken away documents.

The Investigative Committee confirmed the early morning raids.

“The investigation is looking into who stole Yukos shares”, Khodorkovsky said on Twitter on Tuesday.

Since then, Khodorkovsky has continued to oppose the Kremlin from exile in Europe. Moreover, Khodorkovsky was charged for the attempted murder of Petukhov’s companion Vyacheslav Kokoshkin as well as attempted murder of the executive director of the East Petroleum Handelsgez company, Vyacheslav Rybin. None of the Open Russia employees whose homes were searched worked for him in 1993, he said.

Khodorkovsky, who denies the charges, was arrested in 2003 after falling out with Vladimir Putin and later convicted of tax evasion and fraud in a trial he said was politically-motivated.

He has slammed Putin’s system and said he was ready, if called upon, to lead Russian Federation in times of crisis.

Russian investigators say top Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky had been put on the worldwide wanted list as Moscow ramps up pressure on a leading critic of President Vladimir Putin.

Open Russia this month published a report on allegations by Spanish prosecutors of links between a Russian crime boss and several Putin allies, including the head of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin.

Activists have complained that after the seizure of Crimea from Ukraine previous year, Russian authorities have further tightened the screws, leaving critics with few outlets to express their disagreement with Kremlin policies.