St Petersburg dissident Aleksandr Skobov has been transferred to a prison in Lipetsk region.

The 67-year-old St Petersburg dissident Aleksandr Skobov, who has been sentenced to 16 years in prison, has been transferred from the Komi Republic to Lipetsk region in western Russia. His support group reported this.

Under the sentence, Skobov will serve the first three years of his term in prison. He has been sent to a correctional facility in the city of Yelets.

Currently, according to the support group, Skobov is being transported to remand prison No. 2 in the city of Sosnogorsk (Komi Republic, in the north of European Russia).

In March this year, the 1st Western District Military Court sentenced Skobov to 16 years in prison and a fine of 300,000 roubles (about US$3,300) on charges of justifying terrorism (part 2, article 205.2 of the Criminal Code) and participating in a terrorist organisation (part 2, article 205.4 of the Criminal Code).

After three years in prison, the dissident is to serve the remaining time in a strict regime penal colony. He was also banned from administering online resources for three years. In June, the court upheld the sentence against the dissident on appeal.

Aleksandr Skobov faced two episodes of justifying terrorism over his online posts. One was devoted to the explosion on the Crimean Bridge; the other expressed support for Darya Trepova, who was convicted over a bombing that killed propagandist Vladlen Tatarsky.

He was also charged under the article on terrorist organisations because of his participation in the “Forum of Free Russia”—a discussion platform created abroad by Russian opposition activists.

On 26 August Aleksandr Skobov was delivered to a prison in the city of Yelets, western Russia, reports his support group’s Telegram channel.

He is expected to be held there until April 2027. After that, he is due to be transferred to a strict regime penal colony.

You can support Skobov by sending him a letter via the Vestochka service.

• Skobov has been in detention since April 2024. Although the dissident lived in St Petersburg and was detained there, he was placed in pre-trial detention centre No. 1 in Syktyvkar, the capital of Komi Republic in northern Russia.
• At the end of June this year, Skobov reported that his conditions had worsened in detention. Guards frequently moved him from cell to cell without providing reasons, and he was placed with cellmates who had mental health and hygiene issues.
• Because he greeted a Federal Penitentiary Service officer incorrectly, he was twice sent to a special “rowdy cell”—a tiny room measuring two by one and a half metres, with no furniture.