{
  "id": 1680943,
  "title": "Moscow pensioner who set her apartment on fire during an eviction has died. She had lost the home after falling victim to scammers.",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/18/moscow-pensioner-who-set-her-apartment-on-fire-during-an-eviction-has",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-18T09:25:56.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Meduza (English)",
    "slug": "meduza-english",
    "url": "https://meduza.io/en/news/2026/08/18/moscow-pensioner-who-set-her-apartment-on-fire-during-an-eviction-has-died-she-had-lost-the-home-after-falling-victim-to-scammers"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Natalya Ivanova, a 68-year-old pensioner from Moscow, set herself and her apartment on fire following an eviction in early August. Regrettably, the incident resulted in her passing due to the extent of her burns. The Telegram channels Baza, Mash, and Shot, affiliated with Russia’s security services and law enforcement, announced the news on August 18. In 2022, Ivanova sold her two-room apartment for 9.5 million rubles and transferred the money to scammers, but she never vacated the property. A court order subsequently favored the new apartment owner in 2026. When bailiffs arrived to evict Ivanova on August 5, 2026, she requested additional time to pack her belongings, subsequently setting the apartment ablaze. Ivanova had a prior detainment in 2022 after attempting to set fire to a draft office building in Moscow, where she falsely claimed that the scammers had impersonated officers from Russia’s Federal Security Service and central bank. She was subsequently handed a two-year suspended sentence for the arson at the draft office. Meduza adheres to stringent transparency regarding its utilization of artificial intelligence in journalistic endeavors. This particular piece was crafted by a live journalist from our team and translated from Russian employing an AI model adhering to our stringent editorial guidelines. Each draft undergoes a review by a Meduza editor prior to publication. Should any errors be detected in this translation, please reach out to reports@meduza.io. To access Meduza’s exclusive English-language content, please subscribe to our newsletter.",
  "summary": "Natalya Ivanova, a 68-year-old Moscow resident who set herself and her apartment on fire in early August, has died of her burns. The Telegram channels Baza, Mash, and Shot — which have ties to Russia’s security services and law enforcement — reported the death on August 18.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}