Russia arrests hospital staff after nine newborns die

The case, which has shone a spotlight at chronic staff shortages and funding gaps in the country's medical system, has provoked anger and bewilderment from Russian politicians and online commentators.

Prosecutors have charged the pair with negligence and causing death through negligence, Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement.

The exact causes of the deaths at Novokuznetsk Maternity Hospital No. 1 are not yet known.

But regional health authorities said the babies were all suffering from a range of diseases passed on during childbirth or pregnancy.

The hospital announced on Tuesday that it had stopped accepting patients due to a high rate of respiratory infection.

"Between January 4 and January 12, 2026, nine newborns died at Novokuznetsk Maternity Hospital No. 1 as a consequence of the suspects performing their official and professional medical duties in a substandard way," Russia's Investigative Committee said in a statement.

A forensic probe into each baby's death was under way, it added.

Russia's Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid reported on Tuesday that the hospital was short of dozens of staff, though the hospital has denied this.

The speaker of Russia's upper house of parliament called the incident a tragedy.

"It must never be repeated," Valentina Matvienko said in a statement.

The governor of the Kuzbass region, of which Novokuznetsk is a part, announced Tuesday he had ordered an inspection of all the region's maternity and pre-natal hospitals.

And pro-Kremlin lawmaker Yana Lantratova said on Telegram: "In times of a demographic crisis, allowing several infants to die in one maternity hospital in such a short period is a crime against the country."

The other maternity hospital in Novokuznetsk -- a city home to around half a million people in southern Siberia -- remains open, the region's health ministry said.