On 11 April 2023, Russian police searched the offices of Prufy.rf, a local media platform in Ufa, the capital of Russia’s Bashkortostan region. The search was reportedly initiated after a complaint against the media outlet was filed by Maksim Zabelin, the chief of staff of the head of Bashkortostan Radiy Khabirov. The outlet claimed that Zabelin had asked authorities to open an administrative case against Prufy.rf, however it was unclear what exactly the independent media outlet was accused of. In the course of the search, police confiscated computers used in the media’s office. Prufy.rf journalists added that they believed the search and case against the media were linked to their investigation pieces, which examined alleged corruption by a company linked to Maksim Zabelin.
During the search, officials also summoned Prufy.rf political observer Ramil Rakhmatov to an interrogation at the local police headquarters, as authorities reportedly identified the journalist as a suspect in an administrative case linked to articles on the First Deputy Prime Minister of Bashkortostan Azat Badranov, who was said to have participated in fighting in Ukraine together with the Russian army.