My two-year hell in Putin prison: Woman reveals rape terror, and how she was starved, frozen and psychologically tortured... because of an anti-war sticker

When Putin launched a full-scale invasion into Ukraine in February 2022, starting a deadly conflict that rages on today, Aleksandra 'Sasha' Skochilenko knew she had to do something.

Inspired by other activists, she photoshopped five ordinary price tags, replaced the names of the products with anti-war messages and printed them out. 

She then swapped out real price tags in supermarkets with her own.

But what seemed like an innocent sticker campaign would leave the activist fearful of being raped, starved, kept in freezing temperatures and psychologically tortured while behind bars in St Petersburg, Russia. 

Her act of defiance would also earn her a sentence of seven years for 'spreading false information' about Russian forces, following a trial that went on for more than a year.  

Now, the former prisoner has shared her years of hell in an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail. 

In April 2022, Sasha replaced five price tags in a local supermarket with pieces of paper urging shoppers to stop the war and fight against the State's propaganda.

'Putin has been lying to us from television screens for 20 years: the result of these lies is our readiness to justify the war and the senseless deaths,' read one, which prosecutors claimed were a threat to Russian society. 

But an elderly shopper spotted Sasha's antics and in an act similar to that in the Soviet-era, she reported her fellow citizen to the Kremlin authorities. 

The woman later defended her actions, which would put Sasha through years of turmoil, saying: 'I am proud of what I've done.' 

Russian authorities tracked Sasha on CCTV to her friend's house but missed her by minutes. They then forced her friend to break all codes of loyalty and call her, asking her to come back to his house. 

'They ambushed my friend and made him invite me over,' Sasha told the Mail. 'They didn't introduce themselves, they just grabbed me. I screamed "help, save me" and fought them because I thought they were going to rape me.'

The now 36-year-old artist and musician then endured hours of interrogation as police questioned whether she was working alone, or was part of what they believed to be an organised activism group. 

She was deemed a threat to society and kept behind bars while an investigation took place, ultimately leading to her being charged with spreading 'fake' information. 

But Sasha's physical and mental health deteriorated rapidly during the years she spent in the 'inhumane' conditions of St Petersburg's Detention Centre No5 before, during and after her trial.

Sasha was forced to suffer after prosecutors refused to provide her essential medicines or requirements, which were crucial to treat her coeliac disease, bipolar disorder and a heart condition.   

Coeliac disease is a severe autoimmune condition where the body attacks itself when a sufferer eats gluten. It can cause life-threatening complications. 

Prisoners were forced to drink contaminated tap water that 'made hair fall out' and caused 'severe skin problems', while Sasha became deathly ill after she was given the option to either eat gluten or starve.

'I could only eat dinner, which was either cabbage or potato,' Sasha said. 'I couldn't eat the breakfast of porridge with water nor the lunch of a 300ml measure of soup.'

The Russian-national was crammed into a small cell with 17 other prisoners, which was kept under constant surveillance by a camera inside, where she was psychologically tortured by those convicts who were cooperating with prison authorities. 

'They would gaslight me by repeatedly saying "Sasha stinks" and make me go and wash my clothes by hand,' she described. 'I would then dry the clothes in the freezing cold and put them on. They would then say I smelt again and I would have to do it all over again.'

Sasha described how she was also yelled at by the women if she didn't put certain products in the 'exact spot' they should be in. 'It was collective bullying,' she said. 

The women would also force Sasha to watch shows about the Russian-Ukrainian war on TV, which were left rolling on repeat. 

'They watched them from dawn to night,' she described. 'I had friends in Ukraine. I also worked in a kids camp as a counsellor in the country. That is the reason I protested, I couldn't keep silent as these children were hiding from shrapnel caused by my country.'

'I actually found out they never watched shows about the war on TV before. This was just invented for me,' Sasha added. 

Sasha later discovered that officials had intentionally recruited her prison mates to inflict psychological abuse due to the growing media campaigns around Sasha's arrest on the outside. And the 'grief' numerous complaints about her treatment caused. 

This turmoil was heightened as Sasha was prohibited from speaking or seeing her then-girlfriend Sofya Subbotina for a year, as authorities called her now-wife as a witness. Her family had also fled to France over fear of being pressured by the State.

The couple – who were not legally recognised under the anti-LGBTQ country's legislation – were later granted permission by the judge to speak for two hours a month.

Russia's prisons are regarded as among the harshest in the world due to overcrowding, psychological control, torture and severe living conditions – made worse by the unforgiving climate, which drops to minus nine degrees Celsius. 

A former Ukrainian prisoner Khuan Alberto Leyva Garsiya described how he suffered 'every imaginable form of torture', including daily beatings, electric shocks and sexual abuse. 

It is understood 5,050 people are currently being persecuted by Russia in politically motivated criminal cases. Meanwhile, 2,399 political prisoners are currently behind bars, according to human rights group OVD-Info. 

Sasha recalled how prisoners were handed a thin, 'scratchy' blanket and a mattress so useless her 'spine would touch the metal frame' upon entry, while she was left 'shivering' from the cold during the winter.

'Those were the coldest days of my life. It was super cold,' she said. 'I naturally have low blood pressure and was anemic by the end of my detention, which made the cold unbearable.' 

This reached new heights when prison guards would forget prisoners during their allocated one hour of exercise outside, which took place in a small 10ft by 16ft (3m by 5m) courtyard with 'bars as a ceiling'.

'There were around 800 prisoners but only around eight members of staff on during a shift,' she recalled. 'Sometimes we would be out there for hours in a cramped long line in the freezing cold. 

'We could also be forgotten in the shower room for half the day, which we were only able to go to twice a week. One other prisoner started taking a book with her, just in case.' 

However, as her health worsened, Sasha said she was determined to 'not die in the prison'. With the determined help of her now wife Sofya alongside human rights groups, she was able to move to a room shared by only one other and seek medical attention. 

Alongside the help and campaigns, the activist credits staying active as the reason behind her survival. 

'I would lap the courtyard when I went out. My legs were aching when I was released, I could barely walk because my joints were so sore,' Sasha said. 'I would be dead because of my depression if I wasn't able to exercise.' 

Sasha was kept behind bars night and day during her year-long trial as she spent eight or nine hours in a cage in court, unable to drink water or go to the bathroom. 

She was subsequently convicted in November 2023 of 'discrediting the Russian army' under repressive laws adopted in the wake of the invasion – and sentenced to seven years. 

It was one of the first trials to be brought under the legislation, which effectively criminalises all anti-war activism, and sparked international uproar. 

In an interview with the Russian website Bumaga, the 'informer' defended her decision to call the authorities after spotting the stickers.  

'I am the "informer",' she said in the interview. 'I'm proud of what I’ve done. Is it not a disgrace to see a crime and then just walk by? Did I send her to lay out these price tags? What do you want me to say, that she's a good girl? Should she be forgiven?'

Instead of fearing the years ahead behind bars, Sasha described feeling a level of acceptance as the sentence was given in court. 

'I knew I would get some sort of sentence,' she said. 'I had hoped it would be four or five years, but I was then able to count down the days. I decided then I wasn't sitting in jail but I was very slowly moving towards getting out at a molecular pace.' 

However, her fear sparked when she was taken a year later by authorities from her prison – and was kept in the dark about where she was going. 

Sasha was moved to another prison where she spent four days. She was then told to pack her things the next day as a 'free' woman.

'I grabbed all my stuff and then this squad of men wearing balaclavas dragged me to a bus filled with others,' she described. 

'We were told that if we spoke, they would put a bag over our heads and handcuff us. One man then said that we were part of a political exchange. 

'But I didn't believe him, I thought he was telling us this because he didn't want us to panic and we were rather being taken to a forest to be shot.' 

The group were then put on a plane and flown on the four-hour flight to Ankara, Turkey. 

They were then moved onto a separate aircraft to Cologne, Germany, where the historic 16-person multi-national prisoner exchange took place.

This included Russian assassin Vadim Krasikov, deep-cover Russian spies, Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and US Marine Paul Whelan.

Sasha lives in Berlin, Germany, with her wife and continues to protest against Russia and its ongoing conflict with Ukraine through her artwork and music. This includes the release of an upcoming comic book, documenting her years behind bars. 

When asked whether she regrets her act of defiance, she simply says: 'Nope. 

'This was a journey of my life. But it is years of turmoil all over a sticker.'

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