Russian national charged with federal hate crimes in New York City

Anna Mochalova, a 32-year-old Russian national, has been charged with two federal hate crimes following an alleged attack on Orthodox Jewish men in Manhattan’s Diamond District on October 21. According to the Department of Justice, Mochalova allegedly stalked a man wearing a yarmulke and stabbed him in the lower back with a syringe. She then reportedly approached two other individuals in traditional Orthodox attire, repeatedly bumping into one of them before stabbing him in the forearm with the syringe.

Federal prosecutors revealed that Mochalova was previously arrested in June 2025 for an encounter near a Brooklyn yeshiva, where she allegedly took a Jewish teenager's cellphone and threw it on the ground. In that instance, she reportedly stated she was searching for someone she believed had assaulted a friend's children in Los Angeles.

Mochalova faces up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors have requested her detention pending trial, arguing she poses a continuing threat to the Jewish community. The contents of the syringe used in the Manhattan attacks remain unknown pending further investigation.