Kremlin critic Navalny says bank accounts frozen

Russia's main opposition leader Alexei Navalny said Tuesday that authorities had frozen all of his bank accounts and those of his family, including his elderly parents.

The 43-year-old anti-corruption blogger, who has emerged as President Vladimir Putin's most prominent critic, accused the Russian authorities of seeking to strangle him financially at a time when the Kremlin appears to be seeking to consolidate power during a sensitive transition period.

"All accounts have been blocked," Navalny said on Twitter.

His spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh told AFP that the accounts had been frozen due to a money-laundering probe against Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation.

Navalny said that because of the blocked accounts his daughter, who is a student at Stanford University, was without money and that his retired parents could not receive their pensions.

"This is quite unpleasant, I won't deny it. My parents are elderly people, pensioners," he wrote in a blog post.

"My child is studying at the other end of the planet by herself -- she's been left without a single cent."