Kremlin says action needed to avoid repeat of death of nine newborn babies in Siberian hospital

Nine newborns died in a Siberian hospital over the New Year holiday, prompting a Kremlin pledge to prevent future tragedies. Authorities have launched an investigation into the incident in Novokuznetsk.

Reuters

15 January 2026 at 10:19:32

People gather outside a maternity hospital, after the state Investigative Committee opened a criminal case into the deaths of nine newborn babies and detained the hospital's chief doctor and acting head of the intensive care unit on suspicion of negligence and of causing death through negligence, in the Siberian city of Novokuznetsk, Russia, January 14, 2026.

Svetlana Sheremetyeva-Sherstnyova/Reuters

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that the death of nine newborn babies in a Siberian hospital was a tragedy and that it was important to take measures to ensure such an incident was not repeated in future.

The babies died during Russia's long New Year holiday at a hospital in Novokuznetsk, a city of half a million people in southern Siberia and state investigators have opened a probe into the scandal.

-Dmitry Antonov/Reuters