Russian Influencer Starves Infant Son to Death by Feeding Him A “Sunlight-Only Diet”

Maxim Lyutyi, a Russian influencer, received an eight-year jail term for the murder of his one-month-old baby Kosmos. When the baby was being transported to the hospital in Sochi, Lyutyi’s conviction that exposing him to sunlight would give him superhuman skills caused him to die from pneumonia and malnourishment. With his last-minute plea change to guilty last week, Lyutyi now faces more than eight years in a high-security jail for “intentional infliction of serious bodily harm,” despite his initial expectations of an early release based on a social media post from January.

According to the news site Metro, Lyutyi forbade Oksana Mironova, the boy’s mother, from going to a maternity hospital, therefore, Kosmos was delivered at home. The baby was subsequently put on a strict vegan “prana” diet, with a focus on foods like berries that are said to boost the body’s spiritual vitality, according to Lyutyi. This radical method, similar to breatharianism, stated that sunshine was the only source of nourishment.

Olesya Nikolayeva, Mironova’s cousin, reacted in shock and said that Lyutyi had made Mironova refuse to feed the child, thinking sunshine would provide enough nutrition. Even though Mironova tried to feed the child covertly, she was always afraid of Lyutyi. According to reports, Lyutyi wanted to promote the notion of feeding a kid just sunshine and do experiments on it.

In addition to rejecting conventional medical treatment, Lyutyi gave Kosmos cold showers because she thought it would fortify the infant. The 48-year-old Lyutyi has completely given up on his prior convictions while his incarceration and has even started eating meat. Galina, Mironova’s mother, expressed her disapproval of her daughter’s involvement in Lyutyi’s group and expressed sorrow that this transformation did not happen sooner.

It was already too late when Lyutyi consented to let his infant son to visit the hospital. Kosmos passed away on March 8 of last year from extreme malnourishment. Following the 3.5-pound baby’s death, both Lyutyi and Mironova were taken into custody. At his last court appearance before being sentenced, Lyutyi admitted to killing his kid. The prosecution is asking for an eight and a half-year jail term along with a fine of around nine hundred pounds.