St. Petersburg police have detained a 41-year-old foreign national on suspicion of financing an 'extremist' organization, the regional Interior Ministry department reported. According to Fontanka, Mash, and 47news, the detained man is Igor Leonovich, co-founder of two Trifit fitness clubs and a German citizen.
In a video released by police, the man reads the ruling and says it concerns a donation to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). The regional Interior Ministry department did not name the organization. Law enforcement said the foreigner is suspected of transferring 900 rubles to the account of an 'extremist' organization, while TASS reported that he had sent donations repeatedly.
According to 47news, Leonovich was born in Turkmenistan, studied at the Lesgaft University's physical education faculty in St. Petersburg, then lived in Germany, where he worked as a trainer for eight years. He has four children — three sons and a daughter. In a video filmed in the Skandi Klubb residential complex on Aptekarsky Prospekt, the man asks law enforcement not to frighten his family. A search was conducted in his apartment, and a laptop and mobile device were seized.
Last week, on August 12, 58-year-old philosophy candidate Igor Zaitsev was detained in St. Petersburg on suspicion of transferring 3,500 rubles to FBK. A court sent him to pre-trial detention.
According to Mediazona's calculations, by April 2026 at least 225 criminal cases had been opened in Russia for donations to FBK made after the foundation was banned in August 2021. The outlet noted that the actual number may be higher. Courts have issued 167 verdicts, with 24 people receiving real prison sentences.