KIEV, June 23. /TASS/. Igor Guzhva, the owner of the Strana.ua Russian-language news portal in Ukraine, was detained shortly after officers of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) searched the company’s Kiev office late on Thursday.

Ukraine’s chief prosecutor Yuri Lutsenko wrote on his Facebook page on Thursday that Guzhva was detained after he "demanded and received $10,000 from an incumbent politician for not publishing compromising information about him."

Earlier in the day, the SBU searched the Kiev office of the web portal.

"The "Strana.ua" office is being searched. Our newsroom is occupied by SBU officers, about 15-20 of them. The building of the business center is closed for entry," Strana.ua deputy editor-in-chief Svetlana Kryukova wrote on her Facebook page.

At the same time, Guzhva wrote on his page that the searches were conducted over a "fabricated" case.

In 2014-2015, the company’s office was searched on numerous occasions by tax inspectors and SBU officers on suspicion of tax evasion and separatism.