A pro-Kremlin channel accused Russian protest leader Alexei Navalny of taking money from abroad and having contacts with the CIA, in a sensationalist report based on bugged conversations aimed at smearing his reputation as a clean-cut corruption fighter.
The report was broadcast by the NTV channel, owned by state-controlled gas giant Gazprom, yesterday, one day after President Vladimir Putin had warned over a "fifth column" in Russia after its taking of Crimea.
The report, shown on the channel's "Emergency Incident" muck-raking documentary slot, accused Putin's most vocal critic of seeking money from European Parliament figures and meeting with the CIA.
In the first part, it showed closed-circuit TV pictures of Navalny arriving at a Moscow hotel last year to meet senior European parliament MP and former Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt.
It claimed that the bugged conversation recorded in the hotel showed that Navalny was seeking financial backing from Verhofstadt.
"You are interested not just in the future of Russian politics... We need a kind of practical help in the investigation," a voice said to be that of Navalny tells the Belgian politician.
The television said a "concrete sum" was discussed but this was not mentioned in the recordings.
The second recording was a tapped phone call in which a voice said to be that of Navalny is heard discussing a "journey to the CIA" although the context is not immediately clear.
The television claimed that Navalny had been in touch with the CIA to make sure his name was not linked to money from foreign "sponsors".
