Armed Russian policemen on Thursday raided the Moscow office of New Times, one of the few pro-opposition media outlets in the country.
The police team, which included masked Special Forces officers, demanded that the magazine's editor-in-chief, Yevgenia Albats, hand over recordings of interviews and other material used in its report on the country's feared OMON riot police.
The February report titled "Slaves of OMON," quoted police sources who alleged that riot police have been given permission to commit abuses when breaking up protests.
"We suggest you voluntarily - voluntarily - give us the recordings of the interview with the current and former OMON staff," the officer in charge of the raid told Albats, in the presence of media personnel who had arrived on the scene after being alerted by the magazine's staff.
The editor refused to hand over the recordings, citing laws that protected journalists' sources.
However, Albats said she later gave the police a 43-page interview transcript but refused to divulge the names of any confidential sources. Nor did she provide any material, such as audio or video recordings, that could help police identify any source, the editor added.
