"The Investigative Committee of Russia, after examining the materials about the laundering of funds in the amount of about 1 billion rubles [by the foundation], have opened a money laundering case [against it]", Petrenko said.
The materials were received from the Russian Interior Ministry, she added.
According to the investigation, from 2016-2018, people related to the activities of the foundation, including its employees, "received a large amount of money from third parties that they had acquired via criminal means".
The foundation is run by Russian opposition figure Alexei Navalny, who was sentenced in 2012 for setting up a criminal scheme to steal timber, resulting in a $255,000 loss to the Kiriv regional budget; and in 2014 for the embezzlement of 30 million roubles ($500,000) from the cosmetics company Yves Rocher and the Multifunctional Processing Company (MPC).
In both cases, the sentences were later suspended by the authorities.