Russian doctor jailed for five years over alleged Ukraine war remarks

“Five-and-a-half years!” cried one of Ms Buyanova’s supporters in the public gallery. “She’s been sent to a penal colony for five-and-a-half years!”

“The sentence is monstrously harsh,” the doctor’s lawyer, Oskar Cherdzhiyev, told me.

“We didn’t expect this, even given what is happening today [in Russia]. Just a few words proved enough to put someone behind bars for such a long time.”

Alina, one of the doctor’s group of supporters in court, said: “For me it was important that Nadezhda saw that a lot of us came today, so that, if a miracle didn’t happen – and we were all still hoping for a miracle – it would be just that little bit easier for her.”

“It’s very difficult to speak about this. We’re all in shock.”

The law against spreading false information about the army is one of several harsh pieces of legislation adopted in Russia since the country’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, with the aim of silencing or punishing criticism of the war.

The imprisonment of a Moscow paediatrician is the latest sign that, for Russia, a war abroad is fuelling repression at home.