Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation office raided by Russian police

Russian police officials raided the offices of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's  Anti-Corruption Foundation on Thursday after the authorities opened a criminal investigation against the group's director.

The Kremlin critic gained international recognition after he was allegedly poisoned with the novichok nerve agent a few months ago which had landed Navalny into an induced coma from which he woke up in September.

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Navalny took to Twitter to share the videos and images of his office being raided by Vladimir Putin's security forces. "Unique shots. On an assignment from Vladimir Putin's bunker, masked men are trying to retrieve our office disco ball," he tweeted. (translated text)

The local news agencies have reported that the raid was conducted for a criminal investigation case against Ivan Zhdanov, Navalny group's director. The investigation started after he failed to implement a court order, an apparent reference to a lawsuit payout. As per the court order, Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation and Navalny supporter Lyubov Sobol were asked to pay $374,483 (29 million roubles) for libelling the Moscow Schoolchild catering company. Navalny has labelled these lawsuits as a part of the Putin government's agenda against the Kremlin critics. 

Navalny gained international recognition as Putin's opponent in August when he fell ill on his way back home and was hospitalised. The Russian doctors rejected claims of him being poisoned, whereas the German doctors, where he was treated later, provided traces of poison as a proof of their allegation against the Russian President Vladimir Putin.