UPD: As reported by SOTAvision*, the Kaliningrad journalist Ekaterina Tkacheva was taken for questioning to the local FSB office. Tkacheva's procedural status is not definitively known, but she is preliminarily not detained. Tkacheva was presented with a resolution from the Syktyvkar City Court of the Komi Republic, in which she is listed as 'a person who may have information about the 'Revolt Center', where searches were also conducted this morning.
Svyatoslav Khromenkov, as well as Irina Protasova and Olga Vasilyeva, were released from the Investigative Committee, their status is currently unknown.
The Karelian journalist Valery Potashov was also released after searches conducted by the order of the Petrozavodsk Garrison Military Court due to suspicions that Potashov is involved with the publication 'Novaya Gazeta Europe', deemed 'undesirable' in Russia.
Security forces conducted searches at the home of Irkutsk human rights defender Svyatoslav Khromenkov, after which he was taken in an unknown direction, reported 'People of Baikal' citing Khromenkov's wife.
Before the searches, the human rights defender published a short video in which he stated that 'the police are breaking into the house with guns'. During the searches, security forces seized equipment, personal belongings, documents for the house and a car that does not belong to Khromenkov, as well as his wife's diary with notes for a psychologist.
Khromenkov's wife later informed journalists that he was charged in a case mentioning a company unfamiliar to her. According to her, the human rights defender never had any relation to this firm. The exact nature of the case is unknown. Currently, the lawyer cannot find Khromenkov, and Investigative Committee staff stated that the human rights defender was not brought to them.
Khromenkov helps people who have suffered from torture by security forces and in detention. He represented the interests of prisoners who were tortured after a riot in the Angarsk colony.
In Yoshkar-Ola, searches were conducted at the home and office of human rights defenders Irina Protasova and Olga Vasilyeva. Phones and equipment were seized. Protasova was taken to the Investigative Committee. They also work on the rights of prisoners in Russian colonies.
In Kaliningrad, security forces conducted a search on journalist Ekaterina Tkacheva, who collaborated with SOTAvision*. She managed to inform the publication that someone was 'knocking' at her door, after which contact with her was lost.
Tkacheva reported from trials of Kaliningrad activists Igor Baryshnikov, Mikhail Feldman, lawyer Maria Boncler, and others.
In Karelia, a search was conducted on journalist Valery Potashov, reported the channel From Karelia with freedom. In August last year, a search was already conducted on him as part of an investigation into his cooperation with the organization 'Radio Free Europe', which is deemed 'undesirable' in Russia. Potashov claims he never interacted with it. The journalist was released after the search and questioning.
* Recognized in Russia as a 'foreign agent'.