Someone set fire to a hospital outside Moscow, hours after Navalny published an investigative report about corruption at the clinic

In the town of Yegoryevsk, outside Moscow, someone set fire to the front door of the Central District Hospital, hours after Alexey Navalny’s live YouTube channel aired an investigative report about the facility.

According to surveillance camera footage that has appeared online, a hooded individual placed two large bags at the foot of the hospital’s door and then set them ablaze, before running away. No one was injured in the incident, and police have charged the perpetrator with willful property damage.

The investigative report that aired several hours before the fire on Navalny LIVE was produced by the “Doctors Alliance” labor union. The report accuses the hospital of multiple code violations, and features patients complaining that they were charged for medications that should have been subsidized, and morticians claiming that the hospital’s morgue is controlled by a company owned by the doctors’ friends that overcharges customers for burial services.

Staff at Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation say a film crew from the state television network Rossiya is planning a major report from the hospital, where correspondents will try to refute the corruption allegations. According to Ruslan Shaveddinov, who works with Navalny, the hospital has registered phony patients and ordered expedited shipments of medications from neighboring clinics to feature for Rossiya’s cameras.

Story by Grigory Levchenko

Translation by Kevin Rothrock