Russian artist describes prison after anti-war protest

Russian artist Aleksandra Skotjilenko, known as Sasha, has described her imprisonment after she was convicted of spreading information about Russia’s military in Ukraine. She spoke to Morgunblaðið and mbl.is while visiting Iceland with her wife, Sofia Subbotina.

Sasha was arrested in spring 2022 after placing messages about the war on price tags in shops in St Petersburg. She was sentenced to seven years in prison under Russia’s “fake news” laws, but served two and a half years.

She was released on August 1, 2024, in a prisoner exchange involving Western countries. Others released included Russian opposition figures Vladimir Kara-Murza and Ilya Yashin, and US journalist Evan Gershkovich. The exchange also involved Vadim Krasikov, an FSB agent whom German authorities had arrested over the 2019 killing of Selimkhan Khangoshvili in Berlin.

Sasha was born in St Petersburg in 1990 and spent her final years in Russia as an underground musician and artist. She told the newspaper that her family was very poor and lived in a communal apartment shared by about 10 families. She now lives in exile in Berlin with Subbotina, her compatriot and manager.

The pair are in Iceland at the invitation of Amnesty International Iceland, marking the 25th anniversary of its Write for Rights campaign, in which Sasha’s case featured in 2022. The event, “Beat the rhythm: artistic solidarity,” is scheduled for Sunday at 5 p.m. at Harpa, a venue in Reykjavík. Pussy Riot member Diana Burkot is due to perform, and Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard will attend as a guest of honour.