Russian Doctor Sentenced to 5.5 Years for Anti-War Comments

MOSCOW, Nov 12 — A Russian court has sentenced Nadezhda Buyanova, a 68-year-old paediatrician from Moscow, to five and a half years in a penal colony for comments she made about Russian soldiers in Ukraine. The sentence came after the mother of one of Buyanova’s patients publicly denounced her for criticizing the Russian military.

Prosecutors had initially requested a six-year sentence, accusing Buyanova of spreading “fakes” about the Russian army.

This case is part of a broader crackdown in Russia, where over 1,000 people have been prosecuted for speaking out against the war in Ukraine. Additionally, more than 20,000 have been detained for protesting the conflict, according to the rights group OVD-Info.