Six Jailed Putin Critics Just Went Missing

Six jailed critics of Russian President Vladimir Putin have been removed from prison and taken to an unknown location in recent days, according to reports.

Since Sunday, high-profile political prisoners Ilya Yashin, Oleg Orlov, Lilia Chanysheva, Ksenia Fadeyeva, Sasha Skochilenko, and Kevin Lik have disappeared from their prison cells, fueling speculation of a possible group prisoner exchange, independent Russian news outlet Meduza reported.

"It looks like we are on the verge of a very large-scale exchange with the Americans," Tatiana Stanovaya, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center and founder of R.Politik: Reality of Russian Politics, a political analysis firm, said on Telegram.

"Could this be a group exchange? Anything is possible. This has never happened in modern Russian history, but in Soviet history, yes," Eva Merkacheva, a member of Russia's Presidential Council for Human Rights, said, commenting on the developments.

Newsweek reached out to Russia's Foreign Ministry for comment via email.

Yashin, a jailed member of Russia's opposition, was removed from his prison in Russia's Smolensk region on Monday, his lawyer Tatiana Solomina said. He was sentenced in December 2022 to eight and a half years in prison, accused of spreading false information about the Russian Army.

He said in a letter from jail in February that he feared for his life after the sudden death of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was seen as Putin's biggest critic and had been in jail under major fraud and contempt of court charges since February 2021.

Navalny was being held in an Arctic penal colony, considered one of the country's harshest, where he had been serving a 19-year sentence before his death in February at the age of 47. Russia's Federal Penitentiary Service said he felt unwell after a walk, "lost consciousness almost immediately" and died shortly afterward.

Navalny's death was widely suspected as a political assassination. Multiple opponents of Putin have died under mysterious circumstances during his presidency.

"It's hard to convey my shock," Yashin wrote in the letter, The Guardian reported. "It's hard to collect my thoughts. The pain and horror are unbearable."

"I feel a black emptiness inside. And, of course, I understand my own risks. I am behind bars, my life is in Putin's hands, and it is in danger. But I will continue to push my line," he said, adding that he believed Navalny's death was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"For me, there is no question: who killed [Navalny]?" he wrote. "I have no doubt that it was Putin. He's a war criminal. Navalny was his key opponent in Russia and was hated by the Kremlin. Putin had both motive and opportunity. I am convinced that he ordered the killing."

Yashin said last month that he would refuse an exchange if the offer were on the table.

"I stayed in Russia to be a Russian voice against war and dictatorship. And of course, it is important for me to share the fate of my country and my people. I sincerely believe that a Russian politician should be with Russia, as they say, in joy and in sorrow," Yashin told the independent television channel TV Rain (Dozhd).

Meduza reported on Tuesday that it's unclear why all six Russian political prisoners have gone missing.

What is happening "doesn't look like an accident," a lawyer for one of the jailed critics told the outlet on condition of anonymity.

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