A Russian video-blogger who is under criminal investigation for posting a video of himself playing Pokemon Go in a Russian Orthodox church has been transferred to house arrest.

The Sverdlovsk regional court issued the decision on Ruslan Sokolovsky on September 8.

Sokolovsky played the wildly popular game in a church last month and posted a video of it to his YouTube channel, which has around 300,000 subscribers.

It followed a warning made on Russian state television not to hunt "pokemons" at religious sites or near the state border. Violators could face criminal charges.

Investigators charged Sokolovsky with inciting religious hatred, the same offense that sent two women from the Pussy Riot punk collective to prison for two years in 2012.

Amnesty International has blasted Sokolovsky's arrest as a "farcical attack on freedom of expression."

Based on reporting by AP and Slon.ru