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- They have encroached on the sacred: how in Tatarstan they tried to arrange an inter-national conflict with the help of stuffing
They have encroached on the sacred: how in Tatarstan they tried to arrange an inter-national conflict with the help of stuffing
At the end of January in the public "Zelenodolsk. Online" there was a message about a sexual crime against a child allegedly committed by an imam. Only, apparently, there is not a single real person in this story, except for the imam himself and the people who tried to help the alleged rape victim: in order to involve the largest community of the city in spreading fake news, the pages of fictional people were used. Some claimed an allegedly monstrous crime and "police inaction," while others threatened the public figures who had fallen for this hook, allegedly on behalf of the clergyman. Izvestia understood how fakes on socially sensitive topics are created and dispersed.
Who accused the Imam
In the publication "Zelenodolsk. Online" referred to a message that was sent to all communities of the city on January 14 by a user named Nastya Kravtsova. The extremely wordy and emotional message claims that a terrible tragedy has happened to Nastya's friend and her teenage son.
The imam of the Tynychlyk mosque allegedly "committed sexual acts against a friend's son," and local officials are covering for him. Nastya writes that the family is being threatened to "break down and shut up," and the teenager allegedly even tried to commit suicide after the incident. The girl is crying out for help because "today it's someone else's child, and tomorrow it's someone else's."
The message, as Izvestia found out, was sent to a huge range of communities: from "Mama Kazan" to public posts on the VKontakte social network, in which the generated photos are regularly published.
This statement reached the local community leaders, and they decided to check the information. For example, public figure Alexander Vasilenko contacted Kravtsova on social media, and then the alleged "mother of the injured" child, Leila Galieva, after which he passed the information to law enforcement agencies.
Soon, Leila informed him that on the night of January 24, her apartment door was allegedly set on fire and the locks were damaged, and on January 29, Vasilenko himself received threats from a certain Aziris Ismailov. He recorded a voice message in which he demanded "not to touch the imam" and threatened physical violence. Aziris also stated that Leila was with him and demanded not to interfere.
It was after this that Alexander and the administrators of the Zelenodolsk public. Online" decided to publish information about the incident.
"We did not act publicly in order not to interfere with the investigation and not to harm the family. But in this situation, procrastination and inaction are unacceptable! We call on all concerned citizens, human rights organizations and active communities to disseminate this information as widely as possible," the statement said.
Information about the "crime" spread mainly among communities with a nationalist bias. They separately stated that "the investigating authorities initially accepted a statement from the teenager's mother, but later persuaded them to take him away."
At the same time, the administrator of Zelenodolsk. Online" Daniil Levashov tried to contact non—profit organizations that help victims of violence - in particular, he wrote to the Birds Foundation, but he could not really explain why the family itself did not contact law enforcement agencies, but acted through third parties.
In a number of public posts, subscribers also drew attention to the fact that such sensitive information is not confirmed by anything, moreover, the wording about the statement that "was persuaded to withdraw" looks extremely strange. It is simply impossible to withdraw an appeal stating a serious crime against a minor. The media did not spread this unconfirmed information.
How the disinformation campaign was organized
The oddities didn't end there.
Izvestia checked all accounts that participated in the dissemination of this information.
The key account is "Nastya Kravtsova" on the VKontakte social network. She has a closed page, which was created very recently — in November 2025 (Nastya explained this to the Izvestia journalist by saying that she had previously used another social network). An unidentified girl's picture was used as a profile photo, which is actively used by the creators of fake VK pages. This photo has been seen on at least 14 different social media profiles.
Leyla Galieva's Telegram account (did not respond to Izvestia's questions) It was also created quite recently — apparently, already in 2026.
The page of Aziris Ismailov on the VKontakte social network, from which threats were sent to Alexander Vasilenko, was created in December 2025. Nastya Kravtsova and Aziris turned out to have a very similar list of bands.
Aziris managed to show activity in VK. So, in mid-January 2026, in groups on the VKontakte social network, he posted the same messages: "I am an individual entrepreneur. I have not been afraid of difficult periods in business for a long time, but now the feeling is completely different..." Next, the person who sent Alexander Vasilenko a message literally as follows: "Forget everything you know, you will be in the police again, we will congratulate you on your birthday, soon after all," writes a lengthy reflection in literate Russian on how hard it became to work as an individual entrepreneur.
All these posts about the difficulties of entrepreneurship were posted in groups related to Tatarstan. Experts explained that this happens when one account is used by SMM factories to work out different topics: someone writes about the economy, someone uses the guise of Asiris to spread threats.
According to a similar scheme, in particular, Ukrainian SMM factories worked to rock one topic or another: teachers were not paid enough money, economic failure, etc. The Izvestia journalist was introduced to such pro-Ukrainian Telegram chats after the start of her career. They worked according to the same scheme: the "volunteer" was provided with a fake account on the VKontakte social network, as well as an approximate text message, like the one published by Aziris (screenshots of the correspondence are available to Izvestia). The text could have been slightly changed, but, obviously, Aziris did not do this, simply copying it in full.
Apparently, the Aziris page was used not only to "inflate a certain topic," but also for a disinformation campaign against the imam of Tatarstan.
Only Nastya Kravtsova established contact with the Izvestia journalist. She stated that "she is under pressure" from "pedophile bandits" and "from the authorities," but "the investigative authorities are somehow responding." According to her, the Investigative Committee recorded Leyla's appeal and "an investigation is underway." She "doesn't know where Leila and Andrey are now." The door of the apartment of the injured family "is only slightly burned, such small fires were probably tried to set on fire with a lighter," she explains the lack of information about arson in any law enforcement reports.
When asked to talk about Leila's family, Nastya Kravtsova explained that she was a single mother. Andrey is her first son by a Russian man, and now she is "on maternity leave with her second child, who is three years old." She allegedly worked as a nurse at polyclinic No. 3. Nastya told the Izvestia journalist that Leila's second husband, Timur Galiev, allegedly died in her military. Izvestia could not find any information about the deceased with that name. According to her, her teenage son is in the 9th grade of school No. 7. It was also not possible to confirm his existence.
The press service of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Republic of Tatarstan stated that there had not been a single appeal about the criminal actions of the imam of the Tynychlyk mosque to either the Duma of the Republic of Tatarstan, the mukhtasibat of the Zelenodolsk district, or law enforcement agencies. The imam filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office in connection with defamation.
"Hazrat (Imam. — Approx.) and we characterize his professional activity positively, — reported in the Duma of the Republic of Tatarstan. — Over the years, he has proven himself to be a decent Muslim and, thanks to his diligent work, has gained respect among the believers of the district. We assess the situation as a provocation against Islam and Muslims."
Moreover, it is known that in principle there are no separate classes for children in the mosque, and classes on the basics of Islam and spiritual culture are conducted mainly with older men.
In the Duma of the Republic of Tatarstan, Izvestia was informed that an investigative check was being conducted on the allegations.
Social activist Alexander Vasilenko told Izvestia that he had talked, among other things, with the so-called Leila. He even arranged a meeting with her, but at the last moment she could not come because she was allegedly "attacked, beaten and the door was set on fire." She did not provide any exact information, including residential addresses. After that, Vasilenko handed over all the information to the police.
At the same time, he offered Leila to meet in order to take her and the child to a safe place, and insisted that she contact the Investigative Committee or the Ministry of Internal Affairs personally. After that, the social activist began receiving threats from Aziris and decided to make the story public to show that he was not afraid of these threats.
None of the characters in this story met Vasilenko, all communicated with him only through text and voice messages.
Among the oddities, Alexander Vasilenko also noticed that in various publications, two or three people always appeared under the news about the alleged rape, which fueled the discussion about Muslims.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Tatarstan informed Izvestia that information on Vasilenko's statement about the alleged crime of the imam was transferred to the SU IC for Tatarstan, and an investigation is underway into threats against him. According to the statement of the imam himself, a criminal case on defamation has already been initiated under Part 5 of Article 128.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. Both he and the mosque's parishioners were interviewed.
The Interior Ministry has not received any other statements or appeals about a crime against a minor and setting fire to a door.
A new type of misinformation
Timofey Vi, an expert at ANO Dialog, stressed that the whole story was obviously fake and aimed at "provoking ethnic hatred and xenophobia."
Lidia Malygina, Head of the Department of Media Support for State Interests and National Security at the Presidential Academy, stressed that this situation demonstrates several characteristic signs of a fake.
— Creating accounts shortly before the story begins to spread, using photos of other people is a common practice among fake creators. Publications about violence are accompanied by threats and aggressive comments, and this only highlights the manipulative approach of the campaign organizers," she told Izvestia.
Nikita Prokhorov, Executive director of Sidorin Lab, stressed that there are no facts, documents, or primary sources in such stories, but there are formulas for "talking" and "writing to me."
According to him, scandals in social networks increasingly "do not flare up, but are constructed according to a given template."
"The story is launched not from the media, but from social networks, and this is fundamental, because social networks are more viral, from real people, and not some kind of "evil mass media," he told Izvestia. — The starting point is always a few either new or old, but inconspicuous accounts that have not been highlighted before. They publish emotional and sometimes difficult or unverifiable judgments and statements.
According to him, such content is based not on facts per se, but on moral shock and explosion. Local, often anonymous, public sites and telegram channels like "Eavesdropped" are connected to them, which present this information as exclusive. And from there it can get into a large media field.
Lidia Malygina emphasizes that it is important for fake creators to involve real people who can pick up and amplify information. Adding threats and aggressive comments in this situation helps to create an atmosphere of fear and distrust and, consequently, leads to further dissemination of information.
— Unfortunately, this happens very regularly, and in topics where reputation is important — business, politics, culture, it is often used as a proven technology, — says Nikita Prokhorov. — In general, we are dealing with a new type of disinformation.: It's not about facts, it's about emotions. It doesn't convince, it infects. And that's why such companies are dangerous, even when no one can be formally accused of anything.
Izvestia sent a request to the Investigative Department of the Investigative Committee for the Republic of Tatarstan and the Prosecutor's Office of Tatarstan.
Correspondence with all accounts has been saved and is available to Izvestia.
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