Ilta-Sanomat reported Friday that the Vasili Popov, leader of the Jabloko opposition party, was picked up from his Joensuu home by police at the request of Russian authorities.
According to information obtained by Yle, a district court in northern Karelia released Popov following the hearing. However the judge slapped him with a travel ban pending an investigation into allegations of real estate fraud.
IS said that Russia suspects Popov of fraud related to real estate deals conducted in Petrozavodsk, the Karelian capital. Popov has denied the allegations, saying that he is not guilty and that he played no role in the entire business.
Popov told Ilta-Sanomat that his arrest was a case of political persecution because he was an opponent of Karelian governor Aleksandr Hudilainen. In recent times several other of Hudilainen’s opponents have been the focus of different criminal investigations in Karelia.
The paper wrote that Russian authorities have already declared Popov to be detained in absentia and an international search warrant for his arrest was issued via the international police body Interpol.
Popov is one of the Karelian capital’s most successful businessmen and owns enterprises such as the Lentorg retail chain. He relocated to Finland earlier this year but has made no secret of his whereabouts, even participating in media interviews from Finland.