DISINFO: Coordinator of anti-government riots in Moscow used infant as human shield
SUMMARY
The fight for the ‘liberal democracy’ seems to be on the rise in Moscow. Russian investigators are looking for Sergei Fomin, one of the participants of the July 27 anti-government riot in Moscow, who left with an alleged stranger’s infant just to avoid a possible detention. The representative of the Moscow headquarters of the Investigative Committee, Yulia Ivanova, said that Sergei Fomin had dodged the investigators. She noted that, based on open information sources, Fomin, leaving the rally, picked up a stranger’s young child in his arms in order to freely pass the cordon.
RESPONSE
This claim is an attempt to defame the currently ongoing protest movement in Moscow, which is the largest expression of popular discontent in Russia for several years. Mr. Fomin showed up voluntarily at the local police precinct after finding out that he was wanted for questioning. According to a comment to the BBC from the child's parents, the child is Mr. Fomin's nephew and godson. Fomin and the child's parents were walking to a nearby underground station on the day of the demonstration, and were never in the vicinity of the protests. The district attorney of Moscow has since demanded that the child's parents should lose custody of the child for putting the infant in harm's way.