68-year-old political prisoner Alexander Skobov is due to leave the punishment cell in the Yelets prison on January 27, but his relatives say his stay in solitary confinement could be extended. They link that risk to his refusal to follow the administration’s demands بشأن the way he must identify himself to prison officials.
Skobov, who was sentenced in March 2025 to 16 years in prison on charges of justifying terrorism and participating in a terrorist community, has been held in the Yelets prison since last year. According to his relatives, conditions were relatively bearable from August to November, but he was then sent to solitary confinement three times in a row.
The previous punishments, six days each, were imposed because he took off his outer clothing during mandatory morning exercise and did not use the required form of self-identification before a disciplinary commission. Skobov introduces himself as “political prisoner Skobov Alexander Valeryevich”, while prison rules require inmates to state their full name, date of birth, articles of conviction, sentence dates, and cell number.
He was last returned to his cell in early December after being placed in solitary confinement on November 27. For about a month afterward, relatives said, the situation remained calm. But on January 13, Skobov was sent back to the isolation cell. This time the reason was his beard, which prison officials considered too long and therefore a violation of hygiene rules. He was given 14 days in solitary confinement.
“Sasha is now in a state of bristling refusal of everything. He may extend his own stay in solitary confinement because he flatly refuses to change the way he presents himself to the authorities,” his wife Olga Shcheglova said.
She said prison regulations allow a beard no longer than 9 mm and hair on the head no longer than 2 cm. According to her, Skobov has now been trimmed and shaved, and growing a beard was not itself a matter of principle for him. Even so, whether he will actually be released from solitary confinement on the scheduled date remains unclear.
Shcheglova also said Skobov has run out of eye drops, and while in isolation he began complaining that his eyesight had worsened further. At the time of his arrest in April 2024, he already had severe diabetes, hepatitis C, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and near-total vision loss. Relatives say all of his chronic illnesses have worsened during his time in pretrial detention and in prison, and he can now barely read. The article was first published by Novaya Gazeta. Baltia.