Anesthesiologist who called for probe into Alexei Navalny’s death questioned by FSB after apartment raid

Russian law enforcement officers in Ryazan searched the home of anesthesiologist Ekaterina Teryokhina earlier today. Teryokhina was then taken in for questioning by the FSB, according to reports from the human rights project Avtozak LIVE, which cited her husband. During the search, everyone in the apartment was forced to lie face down, and all electronic devices were confiscated.

Avtozak LIVE noted that the search was connected to the extremism case against Alexei Navalny — though the exact details remain unclear. Russian human rights group OVD-Info also reported the detention of a medical worker in Ryazan, without naming Teryokhina. According to OVD-Info’s sources, the reason for the investigation was linked to an online chat in which Russian medical professionals discussed supporting their colleagues arrested in politically charged cases.

As the detained doctor’s husband explained:

“[The officers] said that an order allegedly came from Moscow, stating that all medical workers in this chat need to be investigated, suggesting that they pose some kind of threat. They also said they weren't interested in [the chat’s] participants but were targeting the founders and administrators of the group, naming specific individuals.”

He added, however, that his wife was likely being charged under the article for “incitements to extremism” (Article 280 of the Russian Criminal Code). He also mentioned that she had signed a public letter related to the case of pediatrician Nadezhda Buyanova, along with one connected to Navalny.

Ekaterina Teryokhina was released by the FSB after questioning, according to Avtozak LIVE, though her phone remained in the possession of law enforcement. Teryokhina stated that during the interrogation, she was asked about Alexander Polupan, the emergency room doctor involved in treating Navalny after his Novichok poisoning in Omsk in 2020, as well as whether she had attended any protests in support of Navalny or participated in the “Noon Against Putin” rally.

“Noon Against Putin” was an organized protest action that arose in response to the 2024 Russian presidential election. Initially proposed by Navalny, it called on Russian citizens opposed to Vladimir Putin's rule to show up at polling stations at noon on March 17, 2024 — and to cast their ballot against Putin or spoil their ballot as a symbolic gesture of protest.

In August, Teryokhina was among the doctors who signed an open letter to the Russian Investigative Committee. The doctors demanded an investigation into Alexei Navalny's death in prison, calling for a criminal case and holding those responsible accountable. The letter stated that Navalny was repeatedly placed in solitary confinement despite medical contraindications, which ultimately caused severe complications such as pulmonary edema, cerebral edema, ventricular fibrillation, and, ultimately, death. The doctors allege that Navalny's death was a result of negligence by officers of Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN). A total of 188 people signed the letter.

“Putin has launched a crackdown on doctors who demanded an investigation into Navalny's murder. [...] We are aware of several searches in different regions. These searches are part of the extremism case [against Navalny’s associates],” commented Ivan Zhdanov, director of the Navalny-founded Anti-Corruption Foundation (ACF). Zhdanov later clarified that multiple searches took place in Ryazan, Moscow, and Izhevsk, and that the orders to carry them out were handed down from Moscow. A doctor was reportedly released after being informed by officers that they were being questioned as a potential witness.

Many of Navalny’s associates and supporters have been charged with extremism — particularly after the Russian government labeled Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation and his regional offices as extremist organizations in 2021. This designation has put former employees, volunteers, and supporters at risk of criminal prosecution.

Multiple individuals connected to Navalny have been charged in recent months. For example, three of Navalny’s lawyers, Vadim Kobzev, Alexei Liptser, and Igor Sergunin, are currently facing trial on charges of participating in an “extremist community.” Journalists Antonina Favorskaya, Konstantin Gabov, Sergei Karelin, and Artyom Kriger, who had reported on Navalny, were detained on similar charges this past spring and summer. They are accused of “collecting material, preparing, and editing videos” for the ACF and the “NavalnyLIVE” YouTube channel, and face potential sentences of up to six years in prison​.

In mid-August, Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of Alexey Navalny, made public her late husband’s official death certificate, issued by Russia’s Investigative Committee. The document stated that his death was not of a criminal nature, but was instead the result of a “combined disease” and occurred as a result of “arrhythmia” — an irregular heartbeat. Based on this determination, the Investigative Committee decided not to initiate a criminal case into Navalny's death.

Alexander Polupan, the emergency doctor involved in saving Navalny in Omsk after FSB officers poisoned him with the Novichok nerve agent in 2020, told The Insider that the official conclusion on Navalny’s death was a blatant lie.

In late September, The Insider released an investigation based on hundreds of official documents related to Navalny’s death indicating that the politician was poisoned while in prison in Russia.

On Feb. 16 of this year, Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service reported the death of Alexei Navalny in the IK-3 prison above the Arctic Circle. The politician's family and associates are certain that he was murdered.