Irina Vyacheslavovna Slavina (born Kolebanova, married name Murakhtayeva; born January 1–8, 1973, according to one source, or 1969 according to another; Gorky — October 2, 2020, Nizhny Novgorod) — a Nizhny Novgorod journalist and public figure. She founded and headed the online publication "Koza.Press" — one of Nizhny Novgorod's independent media outlets.[a2] She died on October 2, 2020, as a result of self-immolation in front of the building of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Nizhny Novgorod Region.[a1] In a farewell note published on Facebook, she wrote: "For my death, I ask that the Russian Federation be held responsible."[b1][b2]

Journalistic Activity

The idea of founding her own online publication came to Slavina in 2015, after she had lost her job for the third time. Before entering journalism, Slavina had trained as a teacher of Russian language and literature and worked in that field for several years; she began her journalism career around the age of thirty, at the newspaper Nizhegorodskaya Pravda, but she disliked writing commissioned pieces and moved through several editorial offices.[1] In her own words, the dismissals were connected to the fact that she "stuck her nose in too far." Her own project was conceived in pursuit of professional freedom; Koza.Press would subsequently face legal action more than five times.[a1] Slavina was the publication's founder and sole permanent journalist, as well as its editor-in-chief.[a1][a2]

Slavina conducted investigations into municipal governance and public life in Nizhny Novgorod. According to Alexander Pichugin, editor of the website Reporter-NN, it was she who first — and with the most complete set of documents — exposed a fuel price-fixing scheme involving city buses: on 31 December 2016, the head of NPAT, at the request of a diesel supplier, agreed to raise the purchase price by four rubles per liter literally the day after the original contract had been signed; moreover, the fuel that was delivered proved to be of poor quality and put several dozen buses out of service. City Hall initially ignored Slavina's publications; the situation changed only after a change of administration, when the city's new head, Vladimir Panov, took the matter to court. The court annulled the supplementary agreement, and in August 2019 the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case.[b2]

During the last two years of her life, Slavina was repeatedly subjected to administrative proceedings. The first fine — under the statute on disrespect for authority — was imposed for a Facebook post in which she altered the name of the town of Shakhunya so that an obscene word formed its root. The post was prompted by the installation in the town of a memorial plaque honoring Stalin on the 140th anniversary of his birth; the fine amounted to 70,000 rubles.[2] The second fine was for participating in a memorial event for the politician Boris Nemtsov. In the summer of 2020, a report was drawn up against Slavina for spreading false information: the occasion was an article stating that the head of the sambо academy in Kstovo had contracted coronavirus and subsequently had contact with other people; the journalist was ultimately fined 65,000 rubles.

Slavina's activities were systematically monitored by operatives of Center "E" (the unit for countering extremism).[3] In 2019, Slavina was also subjected to administrative proceedings for reposting her own news stories about lectures held on the premises of businessman Mikhail Iosilevich: the court found her guilty of participating in the activities of an undesirable organization and fined her 5,000 rubles. In addition to administrative prosecution, Slavina faced pressure of a different kind: unknown individuals repeatedly slashed the tires on her car and plastered the entrance hall of her apartment building with offensive leaflets bearing the words "enemy of the Motherland."[3][2][a1][a2] To pay the fines, Slavina knitted warm garments for sale and made homemade cheese.[a1]

Nizhny Novgorod Region Governor Gleb Nikitin, noting on Instagram that Slavina had been "asking uncomfortable questions" since the very beginning of his tenure in the region, mentioned two episodes of their interaction: a joint visit to the palliative care ward of Hospital No. 30, after which the ward was renovated and equipped, and a debate over the fate of the birch grove in Verkhniye Pechyory, where a shopping center had been planned.[b2] City preservation activist Maria Popova clarified that the grove was in fact cut down, but thanks to the public attention raised by Slavina, the shopping center construction itself was halted, and the area was subsequently included in protected zones.[b2] Nikitin also publicly noted that he had received an official letter of commendation from Slavina.[a3]

Public activity

In June 2016, Slavina joined Askhat Kayumov and Andrey Khomov in heading the list of the Yabloko party for elections to the Nizhny Novgorod Regional Legislative Assembly.[a1]

Events preceding her death

A few days before the Nizhny Novgorod City Duma elections of September 8–9, 2020, the Golos movement planned to conduct training sessions for independent election observers. Shortly afterward, Slavina and six other political activists had their homes searched. According to eyewitness accounts, the searches were conducted in a demonstratively aggressive manner: security forces in balaclavas carrying weapons sawed through doors with angle grinders, some of those detained were forced face-down onto the floor; Slavina, in particular, was categorically made to change clothes only in the presence of police officers.[b1]

On October 1, 2020, Slavina's apartment was searched as part of a case concerning participation in the activities of an organization declared undesirable in Russia — a case opened against Nizhny Novgorod activist Mikhail Iosilevich. Around twelve people carried out the search: officers from the Investigative Committee, the police, the SOBR special unit, and witnesses. During the search, all electronic devices were seized, including a phone purchased for her daughter.[a1][a4]

Death

On October 2, 2020, Slavina published a post on Facebook reading: "For my death, I ask you to blame the Russian Federation." At 3:30 p.m., the local emergency services received a report of a fire on Maxim Gorky Street; by the time rescuers arrived, Slavina was dead. The act of self-immolation was carried out in front of the building of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for Nizhny Novgorod Region — opposite Gorkovskaya metro station.[a1]

The bench where it happened was repeatedly and spontaneously covered with flowers — bouquets of roses, lilies, and carnations — within an hour of each cleanup carried out by the city's municipal services; sheets bearing her final Facebook post kept reappearing beside it.[b1]

On October 3, 2020, Slavina's children — Margarita and Vyacheslav Murakhtayev — held a solo picket in the center of Nizhny Novgorod carrying a sign reading "While my mother was burning alive, you were silent." About thirty passersby stopped to honor Slavina's memory with a minute of silence.[a3][b1] Nizhny Novgorod Governor Gleb Nikitin stated that he would make efforts to ensure the investigation into the circumstances of her death was overseen "at the highest level."[a2][a3] In November 2020, the Investigative Committee declined to open a case on driving the journalist to suicide, ruling that the search had been "proper." Irina Slavina's husband, Aleksey Viktorovich Murakhtayev, had suffered a stroke in the final years of her life.[1][a2]

Colleagues and associates described her as a journalist whose work genuinely changed life in the city: human rights defender Igor Kalyapin (chairman of the Committee Against Torture), animal rights activist Vladimir Groysman, ecologist Askhat Kayumov, and other Nizhny Novgorod public figures spoke publicly about the significance of her work.[b2]

Legacy

At the site of Slavina's death outside the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs building, a spontaneous memorial appears every week; those who come to lay flowers have been detained by police on numerous occasions.[a4] Spontaneous memorials have also appeared at the sculpture of a goat on Bolshaya Pokrovskaya Street, which echoes the name of the publication Koza.Press.[a3][a4] On the fifth anniversary of her death, October 2, 2025, the area outside the Main Directorate building was cordoned off with temporary fencing and caution tape; a police vehicle was parked nearby.[a4]

The fates of Slavina's children have differed: her daughter Margarita Murakhtaeva received a fine in 2022 for discrediting the Armed Forces of Russia, while her son Vyacheslav Murakhtaev voluntarily enlisted for military service, leaving behind his wife and two children, the younger of whom was a newborn. Her son subsequently appealed to Governor Gleb Nikitin asking him to protect his family.[a4]

Links

  • Wikidata (archive) (Q99851286 — entry in the open knowledge base)
  • VIAF (111160546940410240004 — union library index)

Irina adopted the surname "Slavina" as a pen name in 2016, at the same time as she founded Koza.Press; the publication operated on reader donations and modest advertising revenue, while sponsored content was published with a mandatory "Advertisement" label — something which, by Slavina's own assessment, put off potential advertisers.[1]

Nizhny Novgorod entrepreneur German Knyazev, who knew Slavina personally, noted that he had never seen her depressed or in hysterics: according to him, she met attacks with sarcasm and invariably responded "you won't live to see it," and her publications were marked by sober judgment and an absence of emotional extremes.[3]

Sources

  1. svoboda.org — In addition to administrative persecution, Slavina faced pressure of a different kind: unknown individuals repeatedly slashed the tires on her car and posted notices in her building's entryway (archive)
  1. 24smi.org — Before entering journalism, Slavina trained as a Russian language and literature teacher and worked in that field for several years. Journalistic career (archive)
  2. golosameriki.com — The fine for publishing an article about renaming Shakhunya amounted to 70,000 rubles; it was prompted by the installation in the city of a memorial plaque to Stalin for his 140th (archive)
  1. Novaya Gazeta (archive) — "While she was burning, everyone was silent." The death of Koza.Press editor Irina Slavina — the most tragic result of the authorities' relentless pressure on regional journalists
  2. Kommersant (Volga Region) (archive)
  3. BBC News Russian Service (archive) — The death of Irina Slavina: how colleagues, activists, and authorities are reacting to what happened
  4. V gorode N (archive) — The site of journalist Irina Slavina's death cordoned off in Nizhny Novgorod
  5. Novaya Gazeta (archive) — Death in public. A report from Nizhny Novgorod, where journalist Irina Slavina took her own life
  6. theins.ru (archive) — "She allowed herself to cry only after finishing her work." Nizhny Novgorod residents on the deeds and actions of Irina Slavina