In late August and early September 2023, at least three girls wearing Muslim headscarves were attacked in Moscow and the Moscow region.

On September 1, 2023, a passenger on the Moscow metro reprimanded a girl wearing a niqab, Elizaveta Baranovskaya (according to another account of the event, there were two girls in niqabs). The passenger was angered by the girl’s covered face, which he considered a «terrorist threat.» «While our Russian boys are being killed at the SMO (special military operation), these here are just chilling. I want her to take this thing off and wear normal clothes,» he said. Some of the passengers supported the right to wear religious clothing, others supported the angry man.

On September 5, the young man outraged about the niqab and one man who supported him were detained by law enforcement agencies. On September 6, the Investigative Committee began a preliminary investigation into the incident.

On September 6, the victim’s lawyer spoke out about the threats she had received against herself and her client. According to the lawyer, in social networks they receive death wishes and accusations of Nazism, inciting national hatred, and attempts to impose Islam. The addresses and phone numbers of Baranovskaya and her parents «somehow got into Nazi groups, with suggestions that she be located, killed, beaten, and so on.» The lawyer appealed to law enforcement agencies with a request to check these statements for extremism.

Another incident occurred on August 30, 2023 in the city of Moskovsky in New Moscow. Several women attacked a native of the North Caucasus who was on the playground with her children. First, a Rottweiler and a Doberman were set upon them with shouts of «Eat them!», and then a woman and her children were beaten. According to the victim, the attackers insulted her because of the hijab. The beating was stopped after local residents interfered.

On August 31, 2023, in Kotelniki, Moscow region, a woman insulted a local resident in the street because the latter was wearing a hijab. The victim recorded a video of the incident.