Irina Pankratova, a St. Petersburg journalist, was buried on June 18th at the Novodevichy Cemetery. Friends and colleagues gathered to pay their respects. Pankratova passed away in mid-May at the age of 39 after a battle with cancer.

For several months, Pankratova had been fighting cancer and underwent surgery in Germany.

She was a graduate of the Faculty of Journalism of St. Petersburg State University and had worked at Delovoy Peterburg and RBC. In 2017, Pankratova received the Golden Pen award for her investigation into Alexander Konovalov, who oversaw uncoordinated street trading.

*Since 2019, Irina Pankratova had been a special correspondent for The Bell, which has been designated by the Ministry of Justice as a foreign agent.**