Moscow pediatrician charged with spreading ‘fakes’ about Russian army after being accused by soldier’s widow of calling her deceased husband ‘a legitimate target for Ukraine’

Nadezhda Buyanova, a 67-year-old pediatrician at a clinic in Moscow, was charged with spreading “fakes” about the Russian army. A Moscow district court refused to grant the prosecution’s request to take her into custody, and instead restricted her from using the mail, phone, and Internet. She was also prohibited from communicating with witnesses in the case.

Buyanova was charged after 34-year-old Anastasia Akinshina, a widow of a soldier who fought in Ukraine, filed a complaint.

On February 1, Telegram channel Mash reported on a dispute between Buyanova and Akinshina. The widow said she took her seven-year-old child to the pediatrician due to a problem with his eye. During the appointment, her son began to throw a tantrum and the pediatrician inquired about his behavior. Akinshina then explained that her son misses his father, who was killed while fighting in Ukraine. According to Akinshina, the pediatrician responded by saying that all Russian soldiers are “legitimate targets for Ukraine,” that Russia attacked Ukraine, and that Russian soldiers are killing civilians.

Mash posted another video that showed Akinshina crying after the incident and saying that the clinic’s head doctor tried to calm her down and “make the dispute go away.” Akinshina added that she wanted the pediatrician to be thrown out of Russia.

Akinshina then filed a complaint with the police. The complaint, which was published by Mash, requested that Buyanova be charged with “discrediting” the Russian army, calling for sanctions against Russia, and military “fakes.” She also requested an investigation into whether Buyanova was sponsored by Ukraine’s Armed Forces. In the document, Akinshina said she was confident that the pediatrician either used to hold, or currently holds, Ukrainian citizenship, because she studied at the Lviv National Medical University in Ukraine.

In another video, Akinshina thanked Mash for publizing the incident and noted the efficiency of Russian services. The widow said that “they sorted out the situation” and promised that the clinic’s head doctor would be dismissed, while Buyanova would at least be fined and suspended from her position.

On February 2, the incident caught the attention of the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin. He decided to open a criminal case against Buyanova for making “negative comments” about the Russian army and “mocking” the widow, according to the Investigative Committee.

That same day, law enforcement officers came to search Buyanova’s home. According to the pediatrician, the police officers took her phone away and read all her messages. Buyanova’s lawyer was not permitted to enter her apartment. She was then taken to the Investigative Committee for questioning, which lasted almost the entire night.

Telegram channel Baza posted photos of Buyanova’s home after the search, which showed torn wallpaper, ripped curtains, and broken furniture. Journalists Dmitry Kolezev and Ilya Shepelin, the Navalny team, outlet Novaya Gazeta, and other media shared the photo of the pediatrician’s ransacked apartment.

On February 3, Buyanova was charged with spreading “fakes” about the army and then taken to court. The pediatrician has denied Akinshina’s accusations. Telegram channel Astra reported that there is no evidence of her mocking the deceased husband. The pediatrician’s lawyer said that the case implies public dissemination of information, and noted that a private conversation in the clinic cannot be considered public.

“In this situation, no one could hear the conversation between the pediatrician and the patient. There are no witnesses or evidence presented in the case materials, and all irreconcilable contradictions should be interpreted in favor of my client. She categorically disagrees with the version of the investigation and the complainant. She does not think that she is guilty. Therefore, we will insist on terminating the criminal prosecution due to the absence of evidence of the crime,” said the lawyer.

The pediatrician’s defense believes that, during the appointment, Buyanova “suspected a ‘behavioral disorder,’ potentially angering the mother, who thought that they wanted to say that he’s mentally ill, which, of course, is not the case.” The defense has requested the recording of their conversation.