Children's question for the oligarch - 3

The forced treatment of Anna Astanina, the ex-wife of the first deputy president and chairman of the board of Vneshtorgbank Vadim Levin, ended last week. Just as unexpectedly as it began, and just as unsuccessfully. This once again proves, according to relatives and lawyers, that the woman’s stay in the hospital was pointless.

On Friday, December 19, Anna’s relatives were able to pick up Anna from mental hospital No. 6. According to Astanina’s lawyers, she was released in agreement with the administration of the medical institution, but without providing an extract from the medical history and without indicating the diagnosis on the sick leave. The disease that suddenly decimated a 41-year-old woman - a Moscow university teacher, businesswoman, mother of two children - is still unknown even to her. To official statements addressed to the chief physician of mental hospital No. 6 and reasonable questions from relatives, the hospital administration responded succinctly: “The patient no longer needs treatment.” According to doctors, mental illness stopped threatening Astanina suddenly, as it had arisen. However, the doctors refused to call Anna “miraculously healed” even upon discharge. It is unnecessary to explain why Novaya correspondents did not hear the answer to the question - the main one in this story.
Let us remind you that Astanina’s relatives have serious suspicions that the reason for the placement of the oligarch’s ex-wife in a clinic for the mentally ill were circumstances that had nothing to do with health.
As Novaya has already reported (see No. 92, 93 of 2008), on December 4, the woman was forcibly placed in a psychiatric hospital, without informing either relatives or lawyers about it. A little later it turned out that Anna ended up in the hospital room with the participation of her ex-husband, banker Vadim Levin.
The couple separated about three years ago. Since then, disputes have continued between them about the place of residence of the children. Until recently, son Fedor (11 years old) lived with his father, and daughter Maria (4 years old) lived with her mother. About a year ago, Levin stopped communicating with his ex-wife and, in matters about children, made St. Petersburg businessman, former psychotherapist Shota Boterashvili, an intermediary. Anna Astanina flew to St. Petersburg just for negotiations with Boterashvili on December 4, and immediately after this meeting she disappeared. She was discovered only a day later in a mental hospital ward...
Vadim Levin did not deny his participation in the process of placing his wife for treatment.
“I was called to St. Petersburg as my ex-husband to ask me some questions,” the banker commented in an interview with Novaya. “I expressed a specific opinion about Anna’s behavior as a person who was not in her right mind. The conclusions were made by the medical commission.
Only on December 11, Astanina managed to file a cassation appeal against the decision on forced hospitalization. At the moment it has not yet been reviewed. In addition, Levin’s ex-wife sent complaints against the staff of psychiatric hospital No. 6 to the Smolny Health Committee and the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. Recently, Anna Astanina’s lawyers contacted the Investigative Committee at the St. Petersburg Prosecutor’s Office with statements to initiate criminal cases against Vadim Levin and Shota Boterashvili. At the same time, these documents were sent to the Prosecutor General's Office of Russia, the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation and several deputies of the State Duma for control. As Novaya was told by the Investigative Committee, the materials presented to investigators by Astanina’s defense are now being checked. A decision on them will be made by the end of next week.

Dina DAVYDOVA