According to the BBC Russian service, the criminal prosecution of Novaya Gazeta columnist Oleg Roldugin, whose case is related to the illegal collection of personal data, may have been prompted by the anonymous Telegram channel "More Than Fact." The publication relies on information from an anonymous acquaintance of Roldugin and an informed source.

The channel "More Than Fact," which has approximately 35,000 subscribers, published information about the business jet flights of Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev and billionaires Alexei Mordashov and Vladimir Yevtushenkov, which had previously been covered in Roldugin's articles.

Also, on February 21, the aforementioned Telegram channel published information about the former driver of the nephew of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov. Ruslan Alisultanov was reportedly selling his penthouse under construction with a view of the Kremlin for 1.6 billion rubles. On the same day, Novaya Gazeta published an investigation into Alisultanov. It described how Alisultanov purchased the penthouse and his connections to Kadyrov's nephew, Ibrahim (Yakub) Zakriev.

Novaya Gazeta itself called Roldugin's arrest "absurd," noting that he is accused of an unspecified crime. On April 10, Roldugin was arrested by Moscow's Tverskoy Court on charges brought under Article 272.1 of the Russian Criminal Code (illegal use, transfer, collection, and storage of computer information containing personal data).

On April 9, searches were conducted at the Novaya Gazeta editorial office, where he works as a columnist.