A woman from Krasnoyarsk who was convicted for distributing newspapers has been sent to perform compulsory labour in Norilsk, a major city in northern Siberia.

Ekaterina Fatyanova, who was convicted for distributing a left-wing newspaper, has been taken to a correctional centre in Norilsk and given a cleaning job. This was reported by the Telegram channel “7×7.”

She was brought there on 8 May. The order to go for forced labour in Norilsk was handed to her the day before, wrote the Telegram channel SOTAvision. “They didn’t let her pack, find someone to look after her cat, tend to her plants or say goodbye to her elderly mother,” her friends told the publication.

Human rights defender Olga Suvorova has created a petition demanding the closure of the Norilsk correctional centre. “For half the year it’s polar night, there’s an environmental disaster due to emissions from Norilsk Nickel enterprises, the temperature drops as low as -62°C and there are black blizzards—these are forced labour conditions for anyone not used to the Arctic climate. Women were given just a few night-time hours to prepare, and tickets with no luggage allowance,” she explained to “7×7.” The human rights defender added that the cleaning firm “Service-Partner Taimyr,” where Fatyanova was employed on 28 May, did not provide her with any proper work clothes, and the pair of gloves she was given tore after two days. In addition, Fatyanova has complained of poor food. The centre opened in April 2025 and currently houses around 50 women, including those who are pregnant, HIV-positive and someone who has suffered a stroke.

In December 2024, Fatyanova was sentenced to two years of forced labour on charges of repeated “discreditation” of the Russian army (Part 1, Article 280.3 of the Criminal Code). She was accused over distributing the newspaper “Workers and Peasants’ Sickle and Hammer” on 9 May 2023 in the area of Teatralnaya Square in Krasnoyarsk, a major city in Siberia. The security forces decided the material titled “Reflections on the Nature of Imperialism” discredited the armed forces.

In December 2022, Fatyanova was fined 30,000 rubles (US$330) under a similar administrative article (Part 1, Article 20.3.3 of the Code of Administrative Offences), at that time for posting anti-war leaflets. This gave the authorities grounds to open the criminal case.

You can support her by sending a letter to:

663332, Krasnoyarsk region, Norilsk, Talnakh district, 16a Baumanskaya Street, IUFiTs at FKU IK-15 GUFSIN Russia for Krasnoyarsk region
Ekaterina Andreevna Fatyanova, born 1987