3 years after he donated to Navalny’s foundation, the neurosurgeon was accused of ‘supporting extremism’

Neurosurgeon Nikolai Serebrennikov from the north Russian city of Arkhangelsk is accused of financing extremism due to money transfers from 2021. The highly respected doctor is now awaiting trial.

On December 16, the Lomonosov Court of Arkhangelsk imposed a ban on certain actions of the neurosurgeon from Arkhangelsk, Nikolai Serebrennikov. He is accused of “financing extremist activities” due to several donations to Aleksei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation totalling 3,500 rubles (€33). The investigation claims that Serebrennikov made these transfers in the period 2021-2022. Earlier, propaganda channels in Arkhangelsk released a video of Serebrennikov's arrest by FSB officers. In the texts of the publications, the propagandists wrote that he allegedly refused to treat participants in the war in Ukraine, and referred to Serebrennikov as “inhuman.” Nikolai Serebrennikov is an Arkhangelsk neurosurgeon with 25 years of experience.

He is married and has children. In 2016, he was awarded the prize “Best Doctor of the Year” following his surgery of a patient suffering from cancer in the vertebrae On a website that rates medical services in Russia, patients of Serebrennikov left many positive reviews of his work. “Nikolai Alekseevich, thank you very much for your golden hands, for the two operations performed, for your sensitive and attentive attitude,” wrote one of Serebrennikov's patients. The article on “financing extremism” is used by Russian authorities as part of the repression against supporters of Alexei Navalny. The human rights organisation Memorial recognized five people as political prisoners under this article.