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Searches in apartments of opposition members suspected of organising unrest continue

The SK established the fact of funding by Georgian politician Givi Targamadze of the activities of the leader of the Left Front movement, Sergei Udaltsov

Spokesman for the Russian Investigative Committee (SK) Vladimir Markin said on Tuesday that the SK established the fact of funding by Georgian politician Givi Targamadze of the activities of the leader of the Left Front movement, Sergei Udaltsov, his assistant Leonid Razvozzhayev and assistant to MP Ilya Ponomarev Konstantin Lebedev. Udaltsov has denied any involvement in the preparation of "mass riots" and the fact that he received money from Targamadze, and the law enforcement agencies decided not to turn to the Georgian authorities with a request to interrogate the Georgian politician.

The Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily recalls that the criminal case against Sergei Udaltsov, Leonid Razvozzhayev, Konstantin Lebedev and other citizens, who were shown in the film "Anatomy of a Protest-2," was opened in connection with the preparations for the organisation of mass riots in Moscow and other regions of the country. This time, the "supporting cast" came into view of the investigation - allegedly members of seminars on colour revolutions, according to the film. Searched have been conducted at their places. According to Markin, it has been established that in spring 2012, trips of a group of Russian citizens from different regions to Lithuania were organised for the participation in a seminar on the seizure of power by the example of the colour revolutions that have taken place in other countries.

According to investigators, the participants in these seminars were, in particular, Taisiya Alexandrova, Anna Kornilova and Yuri Nabutovsky, the Nezavisimaya Gazeta daily writes. They were interrogated at the SK, and their apartments were searched. The police seized from them "electronic media containing materials on the overthrow of the government." Udaltsov was also questioned. He is certain that this SK action is timed to the Saturday opposition rally.

Udaltsov still insists that he has not received any money from Targamadze: "We conduct affairs under the laws of the Russian Federation."

The Moskovsky Komsomolets daily notes that the lawyers and the defendants in the controversial case are put to silence, using the guise of legitimate reasons and the interests of the investigation. At the same time the SK representatives did not specify which evidence they have collected, because of which the "stove-piping" raises more questions. The above seminar in Lithuania has repeatedly been the subject of discussion and claims to the opposition, but they have been repeatedly pledged that such gatherings are quite legal. And the main witness in the case, it would seem, should be Targamadze himself, but it is still unknown whether the investigators have tried to contact the Georgian opposition member. He had only one contact with the Russian media shortly after the film was shown on the NTV television channel and reported that he had no contacts with Udaltsov and is even not acquainted with the oppositionist.