MOSCOW, August 2. /TASS/. Investigators have brought criminal charges against senator Dmitry Savelyev, Russian Investigative Committee Spokeswoman Svetlana Petrenko told TASS.

"The main investigative directorate of Russia’s Investigative Committee has opened a criminal case against senator Dmitry Savelyev for plotting a murder," she said in a statement.

The spokeswoman noted that the senator is suspected of organizing a murder in August 2023. "According to the investigation, in August 2023, in Moscow, Dmitry Savelyev, motivated by personal enmity toward an entrepreneur, instructed an acquaintance to organize his murder by hiring a hitman. For this, money would change hands," she said.

According to Petrenko, the murder was staged in order to expose its mastermind and organizers.

"Law enforcement agencies found out about this and their staff implemented a set of active measures in order to expose the crime’s mastermind and organizers, including the staging of the murder. After receiving information about the entrepreneur’s murder, Savelyev paid the accomplice for committing the crime," she concluded.

Earlier, Russian Prosecutor General Igor Krasnov asked the Federation Council to strip Savelyev of immunity. At its August 2 session, the Federation Council consented to this measure. The senator was detained upon leaving the meeting.