The Kirovsky District Court of Tomsk ordered two months in pretrial detention for 43-year-old Alexander Lunev, suspected of financing extremist activity, vtomske.ru reported.
According to the Investigative Committee, Lunev made seven transfers of 1,000 rubles each to the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) between August 2021 and February 2022. The FBK was designated an extremist organization in August 2021.
Lunev was detained on August 3. At the hearing, he said he permanently resides in Prague, where he moved in 2022 for work; his wife and young child remain there. During a search, authorities seized two foreign passports, a bank card, and his Czech residence permit. He did not carry his internal Russian passport on the trip.
The prosecution argued for custody, claiming Lunev might flee. The defense requested house arrest, but the court rejected the request.
Lunev worked for years as a host at Radio Siberia and ran author projects. In Tomsk, he is also known for buying a derelict 19th-century water tower from the city administration in 2012 and converting it into a residence, where he moved in 2020.
By April 2026, at least 225 criminal cases had been opened in Russia for donations to the FBK, Mediazona reported. The foundation has said it conducts no extremist activity and called those prosecuted by Russian authorities victims of arbitrariness and political repression.