Putin critic says he fled Russia after being told investigations would "target my relatives"

An opposition politician and critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin has fled Russia after briefly being detained last week by police. Dmitry Gudkov told CBS News that he was warned a month before his arrest that if he decided to run for a seat in the country's parliament as planned, he would "see a criminal case against some of your relatives."

Gudkov, who previously served in the State Duma, the lower house of Russia's parliament, from 2011 to 2016, had been running for re-election this fall when he was arrested on June 1. He said in a phone interview from Kyiv, Ukraine, where he fled on Sunday, that he believed Russian authorities wanted to deter his "presidential ambitions." Gudkov was detained for two days and said that in addition to his arrest, police raided 14 locations where his relatives live. The police were investigating approximately $13,000 in unpaid rent allegedly owed by Gudkov's aunt, according to state-owned Russian news agency TASS. The outlet said the charge against Gudkov carries a possible prison sentence of up to five years.