Moscow, Sep 11 (IANS/RIA Novosti): A Moscow court has ruled legal a refusal by investigators to return over $1.7 mn seized from an apartment of opposition activist Ksenia Sobchak during anti-Vladimir Putin protests.

Investigators had seized the money, which was in a mixture of dollars, euros and rubles, during a June 11 raid on television presenter Sobcak's Moscow apartment.

The raid came as part of a probe into clashes between police and protesters at a demonstration in the Russian capital on the eve of Putin's May 7 inauguration for a third presidential term.

Investigators have said they will not return the money as they suspect it could be used to fund violent protests.

The wealthy daughter of Anatoly Sobchak, the late mayor of St. Petersburg and the man who gave Putin his first break in politics when he employed him at City Hall in the late 1990s, Sobchak transformed into an outspoken dissident amid mass protests against last December's disputed parliamentary polls.