Vladimir Putin's political opponent Alexei Navalny has shared a glimpse into his tedious life in a notorious penal colony - where he is forced to sit under a portrait of the tyrant for hours on end and listen to FSB songs on repeat.
Opposition leader and staunch Putin critic Navalny suddenly vanished from one prison in mid-June before showing up the next day at an infamous penal colony known for the rape of male inmates.
His followers were relieved when he revealed on social media he had been moved to maximum security prison IK-6 Melekhovo, about 250 km (155 miles) east of Moscow, adding he had gone from “ship to ship”.
The Kremlin jailed Navalny in early 2021 upon returning to Russia after he was poisoned with novichok during a visit to Siberia in 2020, which is widely thought to have been orchestrated by Putin and his cronies.
And now in a 16-post Twitter thread, the opposition leader has compared his lot to Putin and Dmitry Medvdev, the tyrant's prime minister.
Relaying his experience from behind bars through his team of campaigners, Navalny said: "Putin has ministers sitting in the waiting room for six hours, and my lawyers have to wait for five or six hours to see me.
"I have a loudspeaker on my barrack that plays songs like "Glory to the FSB," and I think so does Putin.
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"That's where the similarities end, though.
"Putin, as you know, sleeps until 10am, then swims in the pool and eats cottage cheese with honey. But for me, 10 am is lunchtime. Because work starts at 6.40am."
He then detailed his normal day, which involves 10 minutes to wash in the morning followed by 20 minutes of exercise. He's then searched and escorted to work where he sits on a stool "below knee height" for seven hours working a sewing machine.
This is followed by hours spent sitting on a wooden bench "under a portrait of Putin", which the colony refers to as "disciplinary activities".
On Saturdays, convicts only work for five hours before being sent to sit on the bench again, he claims.
And then on the one day off, Sunday, "Putin's administration" - who he quips are "experts at relaxation" - force him to sit on a wooden bench in a room for 10 hours.
Calling himself an "optimist", Navalny adds that he's memorised Hamlet's monologue in English to get him through the torturously tedious sewing.
In mid-June, Navalny again revealed other horrors he's been subjected to inside.
His team wrote on Twitter : "I guess I'm never going to become a reformed prisoner
"I've only spent a week in my new cosy high-security prison, and I've already received a 'reprimand by the rights of the head of the institution'."
Navalny claims that if he gets another reprimand - which are doled out for arbitrary reasons or even concocted by the cruel guards - he could be sent to a "punishment cell".
There he said prisoners could "easily die of pneumonia" or "break your neck falling from the bed".
He said prisoners are employed to do the guards' dirty work through rewards like family visits.
He said these "reprimands and rewards are an essential part" of life in the max security penal colony.
Navalny said that "beatings and torture" are also everyday events.
Putin's foe previously said he wants to replace the tyrant as president and believes he would win an election - if it was not rigged in the Kremlin leader’s favour.
IK-6 Melekhovo is renowned in Russia for its brutal beatings as well as rapes of male inmates.
Navalny was given a nine-year term in 2021 after a Russian court found him guilty of fraud charges. They also fined him 1.2 million rubles (around £17,500).
Several human rights organisations and Western politicians have condemned the various criminal cases launched against Navalny.
