Case against Russian police officers who broke arm of innocent woman dismissed

The Russian Investigative Committee has dropped the criminal case against the police officers who broke the arm of teacher Valentina Volkova after mistaking her for a drug dealer while she was photographing flowers. The reason cited is the lack of evidence, independent outlet 7x7 has reported.

In July 2025, police in the city of Ryazan, in central Russia, broke the shoulder of a 55-year-old retired teacher as she was relaxing in a park, thinking that she was dropping off drugs. 

Valentina Volkova revealed on popular Russian social media platform VK that she was photographing flowers with her phone in the park when a plain-clothes policeman approached her from behind and demanded she hand over her phone.

The police officer then handcuffed her, beat her and placed her in a police car while officers checked to see if she appeared on their databases. Once they had determined that she had no criminal record, she was released.

“You cry out in pain, calling for help, you show them your swollen blue finger, your arm hanging like a whip. In response, you hear, ‘You’ll get over it, bitch’. There are two of them, they grab you and drag you away… I only had one thought: ‘I’m going to be killed!’” she wrote.

Volkova’s colleague Sergey Rakhmanin said on VK she had suffered a shoulder fracture and ruptured tendons, and also had swelling and bruises on her body. He also said two police officers had used force against Volkova, and that neither of them had been suspended from work. He added that Volkova’s husband was deployed in Ukraine.