Russia detains prominent opposition politician

MOSCOW, June 02 (Reuters): Dmitry Gudkov, a prominent opposition politician and former parliamentarian, was detained by Russian law enforcement officials on Tuesday, TASS news agency reported, part of a broader crackdown on Kremlin critics.

While a sitting lawmaker in the lower house of parliament, Gudkov was expelled from the Just Russia party in 2013 for helping organise anti-Kremlin protests. He later went on to join Russia's liberal opposition and oppose President Vladimir Putin.

In a social media statement earlier on Tuesday, Gudkov, 41, had said police were searching a cottage he was staying in and were also targeting former and current members of his staff.

TASS, citing unnamed sources, reported that Gudkov had been detained for 48 hours on suspicion that he had failed to pay debt under a lease agreement for a non-residential building in 2015-2017. Gudkov could be jailed for up to five years if charged and found guilty by a court, TASS said.

His detention is the latest in a wider crackdown against opponents of the Kremlin ahead of a parliamentary election in September. Opposition politician Alexei Navalny is the highest profile Kremlin critic to be jailed.

Gudkov suggested on the Telegram social media platform earlier in the day that the reason the authorities had come for him was political. "I don't know the formal reason for this," wrote Gudkov. "But the real (reason) is clear."

His father Gennady, also critical of the Kremlin, described the searches as "a special operation to eliminate Gudkov's team".

Separately, Russian authorities raided the apartment of opposition activist Andrei Pivovarov earlier on Tuesday, a day after he was hauled off a plane and taken into custody.

Police removed Pivovarov, director of Open Russia, a now defunct opposition group linked to exiled former oil tycoon and Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, from a flight that was about to take off to the Polish capital Warsaw from St. Petersburg's Pulkovo airport late on Monday.