TALLINN, Estonia (AP) 鈥� Relatives and allies of an opposition politician imprisoned in Russia say they haven't heard from him in a month and are worried about his well-being.
Andrei Pivovarov, , was transferred from a detention center in southern Russia in December. In the following weeks, he occasionally wrote letters to his loved ones from detention centers in other Russian cities, stopovers on the way to his undisclosed final destination.
Tatyana Usmanova, Pivovarov鈥檚 partner, received the last such letter on Jan. 18. In it, the politician said he was in a detention center in St. Petersburg, his hometown, and was told that he soon would be sent to a penal colony in the nearby Karelia region.
鈥淎fter that, silence,鈥� Usmanova told The Associated Press.
Letters and official requests sent to prisons in Karelia and around St. Petersburg, as well as to Russia鈥檚 State Penitentiary Service, yielded no results, and Pivovarov鈥檚 whereabouts remain unknown, she said.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 know if he鈥檚 alive; if he鈥檚 feeling well; if he鈥檚 being tortured or abused somehow,鈥� Usmanova said. 鈥淲e don鈥檛 know anything. And it鈥檚 extremely hard.鈥�
Amnesty International said in a statement Friday that Pivovarov鈥檚 situation amounted to an enforced disappearance.
The group鈥檚 Russia director, Natalia Zvyagina, called the Russian prison transfer system 鈥渄ire,鈥� and urged authorities to disclose Pivovarov鈥檚 location and release him. She said he is 鈥渟erving an unfair sentence on politically motivated charges for a 鈥榗rime鈥� that doesn鈥檛 exist in international law.鈥�
Russia鈥檚 State Penitentiary Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the AP.
Russian prison transfers are notorious for taking a long time, sometimes weeks, during which there鈥檚 no access to prisoners, and information about their whereabouts is limited. Usmanova said convicts are transported in special train cars attached to ordinary trains and pass through detention centers in various, sometimes out-of-the-way regions.
Pivovarov was pulled off a Warsaw-bound flight at St. Petersburg鈥檚 airport just before takeoff in May 2021 and taken to the southern city of Krasnodar.
Several days earlier, the opposition group he headed, Open Russia, had disbanded to protect its members from prosecution after Russian authorities designated it as an 鈥渦ndesirable鈥� organization. The government cited a 2015 law that made membership in such organizations a criminal offense.
In Krasnodar, Pivovarov was accused of supporting a local candidate on behalf of an 鈥渦ndesirable鈥� organization. Charges against him were based on his social media posts, and he rejected them as politically motivated and triggered by his plans to run for the Russian parliament in 2021.
He was convicted and sentenced in July, when Russia鈥檚 war in Ukraine and sweeping crackdown on dissent were in full swing.
In a written interview conducted when he was behind bars in December, before his transfer from Krasnodar, Pivovarov told the AP that his arrest came as a surprise 鈥� 鈥渢o put it mildly, it鈥檚 an incredible feeling when a plane is being turned around on the runway because of you鈥� 鈥� but that his sentence did not.
鈥淏y the summer of 2022, the political field was completely purged. Those who hadn鈥檛 left ended up behind bars just like me,鈥� the 41-year-old wrote.
Despite his detention, Pivovarov . He was one of the few opposition politicians to be allowed on the ballot, and his team ran his campaign while he was behind bars.
鈥淥pposition activism in Russia is, by and large, the task of finding a way out of situations with no way out. They prohibit everything for you and watch what you鈥檒l do,鈥� Pivovarov wrote. 鈥淭hey tried to shut me up, but it had the opposite effect."
His campaign, he said, became a platform for him and his allies to speak out.
It was in jail where he learned that President Vladimir Putin launched 鈥渁 special military operation鈥� in Ukraine.
Other inmates, who had TVs in their cells, initially followed the war in Ukraine 鈥渁s a movie, a football match where you should root for 鈥榦ur guys,'鈥� the politician said. But that attitude changed last summer, when Russia鈥檚 to fight in Ukraine.
鈥淭he opportunity to go there was viewed as a chance to avoid (serving) a lengthy term,鈥� Pivovarov said, adding that inmates were largely motivated by hopelessness.
In his facility, some 150 men signed up, he said.
Asked whether there was any point in opposition activism in recent years, given that of Russia Pivovarov said 鈥渢here most certainly was,鈥� but he acknowledged some things could have been done differently.
鈥淟ooking back, you realize that maybe we didn鈥檛 get all of the priorities straight. Focusing on corruption, authoritarianism, rights violations, we overlooked the emerging militarism,鈥� he said.
鈥淏ut the fact that civil society, alternative information channels and (opposition) leaders, even behind bars or in exile, are still there 鈥� it is something.鈥�
Dasha Litvinova, The Associated Press
