Nokia took exception to Mutazin’s poor review of the N8 in which he called possibly the “disappointment of the year”. The post also included pictures which appeared to confirm that Murtazin had the phone in his possession.

Nokia then solicited the help of the Russian Police to help recover the phone.

Murtazin has since claimed that he was never in possession of the phone, only that he had “access” to it for a few hours a day. He has also defended his rights as a journalist to keep the confidentiality of his sources.

Murtazin has also refuted claims that he works for a competing device and bashed claims that he was passing information to Nokia’s competitors as “puerile slander”.

It’s a messy situation, somewhat reminiscent of the iPhone 4 deals saga, which was apparently found in a bar in Redwood California, ahead of the official Worldwide release. Further investigation then revealed that the iPhone was sold to the gadget site Gizmodo.com.

Although Nokia have yet to explicitly accuse Murtazin of any criminal activity, he has provided photographic proof that the is a member of the Professional Union of Journalists of Russia and the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), and said he should be given the rights and privileges of such.

Nokia have yet to respond to Murtazin’s latest response.