After the death of Alexey Navalny and the exchange of a number of high-profile political prisoners last year, there is less and less attention for the hundreds of people who remain in captivity. Journalist and writer Svetlana Satchkova draws attention to the fate of those who remain in Russian prisons because they spoke out against Putin's regime and the war against Ukraine.
Russian journalists (L-R) Konstantin Gabov, Antonina Kravtsova (Favorskaya), Artyom Kriger and Sergei Karelin stand behind a glass wall of an enclosure for defendants, as they attend a hearing of the Nagatinskiy court in Moscow on October 2, 2024. Photo: Alexander Nemenov / ANP / AFP
Last August, a high-profile prisoner swap between Russia and the U.S. made headlines worldwide. Russia released several individuals, including political activists, journalists, and even a high school student, in exchange for spies—FSB and GRU agents—who had been serving prison sentences in the U.S. and Europe. The world rejoiced as many unjustly imprisoned in Russia finally regained their freedom. Yet, hundreds, possibly thousands, of political prisoners remain behind bars, enduring horrifying conditions—and their numbers only continue to grow.
Before his death, Alexey Navalny was the most famous political prisoner of them all. In 2020, after surviving a poisoning attempt with the Novichok nerve agent, he was flown to Germany for treatment and miraculously recovered. Despite the clear danger, he returned to Russia after his recovery, only to be arrested upon arrival on trumped-up charges and thrown in jail. For years, he endured relentless torture—starvation, sleep deprivation, denial of medical care, and repeated stints in a punishment cell, spending a total of 300 days there in his last two years. Authorities also placed sick and mentally ill inmates in his cell as a form of psychological torment. Through it all, Navalny meticulously documented his life with his trademark wit, relaying messages through his support team, who then posted them on social media. In late 2023, he was transferred to Polar Wolf, one of Russia’s most remote and brutal penal colonies, beyond the Arctic Circle. On February 16, 2024, he died there under suspicious circumstances. Russia’s political opposition considers his death an assassination ordered personally by Vladimir Putin.
Memorial
Navalny’s case was an outlier, receiving extensive media coverage worldwide. Unfortunately, most others never even make it to local news, remaining in obscurity. The human rights organization Memorial - shut down by a Russian court in 2022 but still operating - tracks these cases and estimates that there are currently 868 confirmed political prisoners in the country. The true number, however, is likely much higher.
The team follows a rigorous process, continuously reviewing documents in real time, so the number of political prisoners is constantly growing. Still, among the thousands of people in Russia currently deprived of their freedom for political reasons, not all are formally recognized as political prisoners by Memorial. In many cases, there simply isn’t enough information to make a full, reasoned assessment of the persecution. Memorial also excludes from its list those who have used violence against individuals or called for violence based on race, religion, or ethnicity. Additionally, most treason cases are classified by the authorities, who often conceal the identities of those imprisoned.
After Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the authorities initiated a sweeping crackdown on opponents of the war
Those jailed for political reasons generally fall into several broad categories. First, there are Alexei Navalny’s colleagues and supporters. Then, there are individuals who donate to banned human rights organizations or groups labeled ‘undesirable’ by the Russian state, such as the media organization Meduza. Finally, there are those who oppose Russia’s war in Ukraine.
After Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, the authorities initiated a sweeping crackdown on opponents of the war. To facilitate this, two new articles were quickly added to the Criminal Code: Article 207.3 ('Public dissemination of knowingly false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation'), which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison and is commonly known as the 'fakes' law, and Article 280.3 ('Public actions aimed at discrediting the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation'), which carries a penalty of up to 5 years. In addition to these new laws, authorities continue to use charges of hooliganism, vandalism, and other long-standing tools of political repression to target anti-war activists.
New patterns
Disturbingly, new patterns are emerging. While a few years ago, persecution was largely focused on adult men, authorities are now increasingly targeting women, the elderly, and even teenagers as young as 15 or 16.
According to OVD-Info, an independent human rights media outlet, women now make up 20.5 percent of those involved in anti-war criminal cases. One of them is 58-year-old Lyudmila Razumova from Tver. Along with her husband, she became one of the first to be persecuted under the new laws. In March 2023, she was sentenced to seven years in a general-regime penal colony. In addition to being accused of spreading 'fakes,' Razumova was charged with vandalism motivated by political hatred. According to the investigation, Lyudmila and her husband painted anti-war graffiti, which featured a combined portrait of Putin and Hitler. During her time in the colony, she has been repeatedly sent to a punishment cell, which severely impacted her health.
On February 24, 2022, the day Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, Tatyana transferred $10 from her Sberbank account to a Ukrainian fund and then made another transfer of $20
Another case is that of 22-year-old Tatyana Laletina, a student at Tomsk State Pedagogical University and an artist. On June 28, 2024, she was sentenced under Article 275 of the Russian Criminal Code ('High treason' for 'providing financial assistance to a foreign state in activities directed against the security of the Russian Federation') to nine years in a general-regime penal colony. On February 24, 2022, the day Russia launched its full-scale war against Ukraine, Tatyana transferred $10 from her Sberbank account to a Ukrainian fund and then made another transfer of $20. She has been in state custody since February 26, 2024, and is currently held in a colony in the Kemerovo region.
Vulnerability
Women are in a position of complete vulnerability within the FSIN (Federal Penal System). The rules and daily routines in women's colonies can be even stricter than for men, and they tend to receive far less support from the outside. Additionally, unlike men, for whom work is not always available, women always have work. They typically sew uniforms for FSIN employees, police officers, and military personnel, as well as workwear for factory workers. Women are often forced to work grueling shifts of 8 to 12 hours a day, sometimes even around the clock, with little regard for their well-being.
There are now more than a hundred elderly people among political prisoners, and their proportion continues to rise each year. Correctional facilities benefit from elderly prisoners because according to Article 107 of the Russian Penal Code, the administration has the right to deduct up to 50% from old-age or disability pensions. FSIN employees can exploit this mechanism for their own benefit. As a result, elderly prisoners are rarely released on parole. Moreover, the weakened health of older prisoners works to the authorities' advantage—they are easier to intimidate and blackmail.
Minors
Since 2022, there has also been a sharp increase in criminal cases against minors who oppose the policies of the current government in Russia.
16-year-old Arseny Turbin from Livny, Oryol Region, was well-read and academically accomplished. He was accused of participating in the activities of the 'Freedom of Russia' Legion— a unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces composed of Russian citizens. The criminal case against him was based on distributing leaflets critical of Putin, posting political content on social media, a photograph of the white-blue-white flag (a symbol of the anti-war movement), and testimony from his teachers. ‘Arseny didn’t hide his opinion about the current Russian government from the FSB officers during the interrogation,' a member of his support group told Free Europe / Radio Liberty. 'He spoke about the many children in Ukraine who had been left without parents and about the harsh sentence given to Alexei Navalny. All of this was interpreted as support for the ideology of the "Freedom of Russia" Legion, which was not true.' When Arseny committed these alleged 'crimes,' he was only 14 years old. He was sentenced to five years in a penal colony for terrorism, and cried after the verdict. What hurt him the most was that he was imprisoned for something he didn’t do, by people who knew he had no connection to the 'Freedom of Russia' Legion. He was taken into custody on June 20, 2024.
Ninth-grader Valery Zaitsev was raised by his grandparents in the village of Solnechny, Khabarovsk Region. The teenager was deeply troubled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and often spoke out against the war, sharing his thoughts on various social media platforms. In October 2023, the FSB detained Valery at a tuberculosis clinic in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, where he had been receiving treatment for several months. It was claimed that the 14-year-old Zaitsev 'was searching for instructions on how to work with explosives and make Molotov cocktails,' and also 'conducted tests and prepared incendiary devices.' The court found him guilty of training for terrorist activities and participating in a terrorist organization, sentencing him to 4.5 years in a penal colony. He has been in custody since October 2023. According to Mediazona, when his grandmother visited him in pretrial detention, Valery asked her, 'Grandma, why am I here? There are murderers, drug addicts, thieves, fights... But why am I here? I haven’t done anything.' She believes the case against her grandson was built on his online correspondence with a secret witness and a video recorded by the same witness, showing teenagers throwing Molotov cocktails. She suspects this adult provocateur may have been an FSB officer or was acting under their instructions. Zaitsev’s case, along with many others, demonstrates that even when you're not actively opposing Putin’s regime offline, you can still be targeted.
It was claimed that the 14-year-old Zaitsev 'was searching for instructions on how to work with explosives and make Molotov cocktails'
The regime employs undercover agents, who provoke people into actions that can be more easily interpreted as crimes. One such case is that of 50-year-old Evgeny Mischenko, a regular participant in protest rallies in Moscow and a volunteer at the 'Nemtsov Bridge.' Together with other activists, he guarded the memorial on the Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, where opposition politician Boris Nemtsov was killed in 2015, reportedly on Putin’s orders. There, Mischenko met a person who introduced himself as another volunteer but was later revealed at trial to be an undercover agent of Center 'E' (Center for Combating Extremism). The agent spoke to Mischenko about politics and recorded their conversations, in which Mischenko confessed that he was considering joining the 'Freedom of Russia' Legion. According to Mediazona, the agent provoked the activist and suggested buying weapons and hiring a drug-addicted person to carry out acts of sabotage. The agent himself described Mischenko as 'very religious, fair, honest, and compassionate.' Last October, a military court in Moscow sentenced Mischenko to 12 years in a high-security penal colony.
His wife, Natalia, who suffers from severe rheumatoid arthritis and neurotic vasculitis (painful wounds with necrosis), has found herself in a desperate situation. Unable to work, she relied on Evgeny as her sole provider. Now, she turns to social media to seek support, needing funds for food, utilities, medications, and to send her husband food and clothes in prison.
Death
Mortality in Russian prisons is twice as high as in European ones, and political prisoners in modern Russia face even greater pressure. In addition to being unjustly persecuted, they are regularly placed in solitary confinement, deprived of visits from relatives, and denied necessary medical care. Currently, 160 political prisoners require medical assistance of varying urgency. One such prisoner is 56-year-old Gregory Vinter, a scientist and human rights activist, who was convicted for posting materials on the internet about atrocities committed by Russian troops against civilians in Ukraine. Vinter’s health is poor: he suffers from diabetes, survived a stroke, experienced clinical death during COVID, and survived an assassination attempt. Denied access to insulin in pre-trial detention and fearing the same deprivation in the penal colony, he faced the threat of a slow and agonizing death. During his trial, he appealed to Putin for the right to euthanasia, but his request was denied. Instead, he was sentenced to three years in prison. Vinter is currently imprisoned in Kirovo-Chepetsk, nearly 900 kilometers from his hometown of Cherepovets. Once a month, a volunteer support group delivers insulin to him.
Political prisoners in Russia endure appalling conditions and violence, but there are ways to support them. According to Meduza, frequent correspondence not only offers moral support but also serves as their primary source of outside information. It can even act as a safeguard—prisoners who maintain regular contact with people abroad are less likely to suffer mistreatment from their captors. ]
Anyone who wants to send a sign of support to a political prisoner can send letters through a portal supported by the organisation OVD-Info: https://letters-now.org/. Donations can be made via Memorial at https://memopzk.org/en/donate/. Additionally, Natalia Mischenko can be supported via her friend’s PayPal account (PayPal doesn’t operate in Russia) at
