MOSCOW, January 29. /TASS/. Russia’s Investigative Committee has charged in absentia Leonid Volkov, blogger Alexey Navalny's associate, who urged teenagers to participate in illegal rallies on January 23, the press service of the Investigative Committee told journalists.

"Based on the evidence collected in relation to this case, including in accordance with the results of a linguistic probe which identified statements as calls to minors inducing them to participate in rallies, a decree was issued regarding Volkov indicting him as a defendant. He is charged with committing a crime under Part 2 of Article 151.2 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (inducing minors to illegal actions on information and telecommunication networks). Volkov was declared as wanted," the statement said.

The criminal case against Volkov is investigated by the Investigative Committee's Main Investigative Directorate. Earlier, the agency reported that during the probe video recordings were discovered of Volkov, the leader of a regional network of "Navalny’s headquarters," urging minors to participate in illegal rallies.

The defendant is currently abroad.