MOSCOW, May 24 (RAPSI) – The Sverdlovsk Regional Court issued an arrest warrant for ex-governor of Russia’s Chelyabinsk Region Mikhail Yurevich, who stands charged with taking 26 million rubles ($460,300 at the current exchange rate) in bribes, in absentia, attorney Igor Trunov told RAPSI on Wednesday.

On May 12, a district court in Yekaterinburg dismissed investigators’ motion to arrest Yurevich in absentia. The ruling was appealed by prosecutors.

Investigators claim that Yurevich received bribes regularly. Their amount was estimated at 26 million rubles.

Moreover, he allegedly instigated Oleg Grachev, who had been appointed to the position of the First Deputy Governor of the region, to spread libel about ex-chairman of the Chelyabinsk Regional Court Fyodor Vyatkin.