Russian dissident Vladmir Osechkin spoke to FRANCE 24 from the French city of Biarritz, where he has been living in exile since 2015. The founder of Gulagu.net, an NGO that documents abuses in the Russian prison system, believes the Russian secret services "tried to organise his liquidation" in September 2022. Osechkin compared Russian President Vladimir Putin to a "new Stalin" at the head of a 21st-century Gulag, "pushing inmates to head to war" in Ukraine.
Speaking from Biarritz in southwestern France, Osechkin explained why he believes the Russian secret services tried to kill him last September. Gulagu.net, an NGO he founded a decade ago, revealed the "torture system" taking in place in Russian prisons, he said, and the "secret services are afraid [of facing the] International Criminal Court" were the world to find out about their human rights violations.
Asked about Ukrainian prisoners of war being held in Russia, Osechkin said that before the full-scale invasion, "we were telling the world about the systematic rape in Russian jails with videotapes to intimidate the inmates. We thought this was the worst we could ever see and reveal. But beginning [on] February 24, 2022, we have found ourselves in a more horrifying reality." The Russian dissident claimed that a "newly formed concentration camp" now exists in over 10 Federal Penintentiary Services (FSIN) in Russia.
Osechkin said that the Wagner Group is forcing inmates to fight in the war in Ukraine, calling this "yet another inhuman scheme organised by the Putin regime". "They have introduced practices from Stalin's time and have executed people who do not want to fight in Ukraine," he said. Osechkin added: "Putin has decided to become the new Stalin."
The founder of Gulagu.net also raised the alarm about Alexei Navalny, who is currently being held in the high-security prison of Melekhovo, known as IK-6 prison, in Russia. "He is being abused (...) They are trying to break him psychologically in order to break his will. He is regularly put into the solidarity confinement cells," said Osechkin, referring to photographs and documents provided by an insider. "We even have evidence that the Russian secret services have set up a wiretap of the office where he meets with his lawyer."
"At any time, if Putin gives the order, the worst imaginable could happen to Alexei Navalny. Only pressure from the international press and international political leaders is saving him from that, for the time being," Osechkin concluded.
