MOSCOW, July 17 (RAPSI) - Russian businessman Sergei Polonsky, who has been charged in absentia with embezzling 5.7 billion rubles ($177.5 million), has left Cambodia. According to his Twitter account, it has happened with the knowledge of Cambodian authorities.

Earlier, Russian Interior Ministry said it plans to request a warrant for Polonsky's arrest in absentia if he does not answer the investigators' summons by August. Polonsky, once one of Russia's wealthiest men, has been officially charged with embezzling over 5.7 billion rubles (around $175 million at the current exchange rate) Kutuzovskaya Milya luxury housing project investors.

Last December, Polonsky was involved in a fracas in Cambodia, when he and two other Russians allegedly attacked the six-person crew of a boat ferrying them from a Cambodian island to Sihanoukville. The sailors later dropped the charges.

Polonsky and two other Russian nationals, Konstantin Baglay and Alexander Karachinsky, were arrested on December 31. Baglay and Karachinsky were released on bail on March 11, 2013.

On April 3, Polonsky was released from the Cambodian prison but was barred from leaving the country. He later reportedly traveled to Israel. On June 20, lawyer Diana Tatosova said Polonsky is hoping to become an Israeli national.