Write to Russia

4 September 2025

by Simon Cosgrove, chair of trustees of Rights in Russia

We have reached a milestone in our project, Write to Russia. Since we started the project in November 2023, volunteers from the RiR team have translated and sent 400 letters to political prisoners/prisoners of conscience in remand prisons and penal colonies all over Russia.

Thank you to our letter writers!

The letters we translate have come not only from the UK but also from Europe, Australia, Canada and the US. All age groups are represented among our writers. It has to be said that our older writers (often pensioners) write particularly wonderful letters, long and descriptive of life in the country where they live (and after all, this is of interest to political prisoners in Russia because most likely they have never been to the country of the person writing to them in our project).

Many prisoners before and after release have testified to the importance that letters have for them. Aleksandr Podrabinek in his memoir Between Prison and Freedom, in an excellent translation by Marian Schwartz, wrote:

But my greatest joy in prison was receiving letters. Maybe I was to sentimental, but this joy was as valuable as all the rest. When I left the punishment cell, where letters were not delivered, I would get a whole stack at once. The longer I sat in the punishment cell, the thicker the stack. That was reassuring. Letters from home are an imaginary bridge to freedom. I reread each letter many times, until I received a new one.’ [1]

It is wonderful to know that our letters reach their intended recipients, and very often the writers receive replies from the prisoners. Here are two short extracts:

‘Hello! You always write ‘Dear’, although you are someone I don’t know, but I immediately have a warm feeling from this! Thank you for your letter, for your warm words, for your kindness in writing…’

‘My health and patience and hope are almost worn out. I have even lost my sense of humour. Perhaps it is a temporary depression. But these moods come more frequently and last longer. But you made me very happy with your letters, about music, and rock groups and other news. Thank you!’

It may also be worth noting that we know that all the letters we send are read by another category of readers for whom they are not specifically intended – the prison censors. This is why the letters need to be in Russian, even if the prisoner can understand English. But it may well be that in this way our project also helps counteract official Kremlin propaganda – the censors willy-nilly see that the writers from these ‘hostile’ countries are ordinary, humane, friendly, caring people.

And another aspect of the matter, that prisoners themselves bring to our notice, is that when the prison authorities see that political prisoners/prisoners of conscience are not forgotten, but have the attention of the outside world on them and their treatment, this has a positive impact on their lives in prison.

Thank you to all our writers – and we look forward to keeping you up to date about future milestones in our project.

Simon Cosgrove

Chair of trustees, Rights in Russia

Alexander Podrabinek, Between Prison and Freedom. Memoir of a Soviet Dissident, translated by Marian Schwartz, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, Indiana, 2025, p. 341.