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The political scientist Alexander Kynev has not been receiving food parcels at Medved Pre-trial Detention Centre No. 4 for almost a week. Furthermore, due to having a cast and the lack of outerwear, he is unable to go outside for walks. Kynev shared this in a letter, reported RusNews.
“Some things are getting better, some worse—that’s dialectics. The cell, yes, has got better, but there are now some hard-to-explain issues with the parcels: I’ve not received any food from the outside for almost a week, and it’s hard to live on prison rations alone. It’s unclear why this is happening,” the political scientist wrote.
According to volunteers, parcels for Kynev are still being delivered to his former cell, from which he has been moved. As a result, the food is returned. Money for the undelivered parcels is not being refunded.
Kynev is also not going outdoors for walks.
“It’s getting colder outside, my cellmates are taken out for walks. But at the moment I cannot go. Firstly, because I have a cast and no shoes fit over it. Secondly, because I still don’t have any outerwear (it hasn’t been possible to get it sent from home to the detention centre). So, waiting,” he said.
Kynev was detained on 25 September and sent to the detention centre on charges of attempted large-scale drug dealing (clause ‘g’ of part 4 of article 228.1 of the Criminal Code). The political scientist denies any wrongdoing. After his arrest, he was diagnosed with two fractures of the tibia. A source from the ‘Defence Word’ project said the injuries were the result of torture during his detention.
At the end of October, Kynev stopped eating in the detention centre due to the conditions: he was held in an overcrowded cell with a floor-hole toilet, which he could not use because of the cast. After that, the political scientist was moved to another cell with standard plumbing and four cellmates.
Alexander Kynev is a political scientist and an expert on Russian elections and regional politics. He has spent many years analysing electoral campaigns and violations during elections. In February 2026, the Ministry of Justice included him in the register of ‘foreign agents.’