Russian political prisoner Aleksandr Skobov refuses to participate in a prisoner exchange

from prison letters. October 4, 2026

Historian and former Soviet dissident Aleksandr Skobov, who is currently serving a sentence in Yelets, has refused to participate in a prisoner exchange proposed to the Russian authorities by Donald Trump on September 29. The idea of releasing political prisoners in exchange for easing sanctions against Russia was presented to Trump by his special envoy for Eastern Europe, John Cole, following a meeting with Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov.

“If a deal beneficial to those vampires appears on the horizon regarding the lifting of even a portion of U.S. sanctions, they may well bypass any of their own ‘legal’ formalities. No one will simply ask for our ‘voluntary consent.’ They will load us onto a plane and that will be it. It has happened before, and more than once.”

But I want to at least record my position. I am categorically opposed to any deal that would involve any weakening of sanctions before a complete ‘freezing’ of combat operations. And I will not give my consent to becoming a bargaining chip in such a deal. This is not about symbolic gestures by people playing at being morally irreproachable. Sanctions have a real impact on the situation at the front. Weakening them is direct aid to the aggressor,” Skobov stated in a letter dated October 4.

The historian’s letter was published on Facebook by long-distance swimmer and opposition activist Oleg Sofyanik, who moved from occupied Crimea to Ukraine in 2020. In 2021, Sofyanik carried out a protest swim against the annexation of Crimea to Russia.

Aleksandr Skobov is a Soviet dissident, author of several history textbooks and articles in the newspapers Novaya Gazeta and Grani. In 2024, he ended up behind bars on charges of “justifying terrorism” and “participation in a terrorist community” due to posts about the Kerch Bridge and participation in the “Free Russia Forum.” He is serving a sixteen-year prison sentence. In the 1970s, Skobov was placed in a psychiatric hospital for anti-Soviet activities, but later continued his publishing activities and public appearances.

Source: Activatica.org