Manana Aslamazyan, ex-head of the Educated Media Foundation, was charged with smuggling earlier this year after Russian customs officers discovered she had failed to declare foreign currency after a trip abroad.
She was found to be in possession of approximately $2,800 more than the permitted sum of $10,000.
"The investigation has been suspended after Aslamazyan was put on a federal wanted list," the source said, adding that the former NGO head was believed to be abroad. The source did not rule out that Aslamazyan could later be put on an international wanted list.
In April, police mounted a raid on the NGO's Moscow headquarters, seizing computers and financial documents.
Formerly known as Internews Russia, the Educated Media Foundation was involved with training broadcast journalists, mostly from the Russian provinces. Supported by grants from Western charities, such as the Open Society Institute, and USAID and TACIS assistance programs, the group was forced to suspend its operations following the raids.
The case against Aslamazyan prompted more than 2,000 Russian journalists to send an open letter of protest to President Vladimir Putin. The journalists are unanimous in their belief that the proceedings against Aslamazyan were launched to deter foreign-funded NGOs from meddling in Russian politics.
Aslamazyan's lawyer said he had appealed the decision to include his client on a federal wanted list, adding that investigators had justified their move by the fact that Aslamazyan's whereabouts were 'unknown'.
"In reality, everyone knows perfectly well that she is in Paris," he said.
In late 2005, the Russian parliament passed a Kremlin-sponsored bill preventing foreign NGOs from running branch offices in the country and making Russian groups ineligible for most sources of foreign funding.
Presented by authorities as a measure to protect national security, the bill drew a strong reaction from the Council of Europe and rights activists at home and abroad, who slammed the new piece of legislation as an attempt to weaken civil society.
