Political prisoner, mathematician, and anarchist Azat Miftakhov has described torture he says he was subjected to after arriving at the IK-18 “Polar Owl” prison colony in the Arctic settlement of Kharp in Russia’s Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District. He says he was beaten on the heels with a wooden hammer, threatened with sexual assault and being dipped into sewage, and tortured with electric shocks. The Insider obtained Miftakhov’s detailed account of what happened to him at Polar Owl on April 21, including the names of the abusers from Russia’s Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) and from among his fellow prisoners. Polar Owl is notably down the road from IK-3 Polar Wolf, the prison where opposition politician Alexei Navalny was murdered with a deadly toxin in February 2024.
Taken to “Lubyanka”
On April 21 — likely the day after he arrived in Kharp — Miftakhov was taken at about 1 p.m. to the administration building, where the operational department is located. Polar Owl prisoners call the place the “Lubyanka,” a reference to the Moscow headquarters of the Soviet Union’s KGB and its successor agency, Russia’s FSB. Miftakhov said he was met there by two convicts: one with the surname Bulanov and another named Mikhail. They brought him to a toilet and ordered him to clean it, but he refused.
Miftakhov was then taken into an office where prison employee Mikhail Sobolev was present. Miftakhov said the conversation lasted about one and a half hours. At first, Sobolev seemed to him like a “calm, reasonable person,” but he kept saying that Miftakhov had to do everything the administration told him to do, including cleaning the toilet in the operational department.
“Then, when I refused again, he either pressed some button or made a call, after which those two convicts ran into the office. They knocked me to the floor. Bulanov sat on my torso. ... Mikhail sat on my legs and began wrapping them with tape. ... Mikhail hit me several times in the groin with his fist to make me stop resisting,” Miftakhov said.
According to Miftakhov, the attackers also tied his hands with tape. After that, they turned him onto his stomach, and Sobolev sat on top of him. At that point, Bulanov began hitting his heels with a wooden hammer.
“I started screaming in pain. ... It hurt, and at the same time I could hardly breathe. I began choking and losing consciousness. When my screams grew quieter, Bulanov stopped hitting my heels. They waited until I came to, and then they started hitting my heels again and pressing down on my back, and it was hard for me to breathe.”
The Insider has independently confirmed that 40-year-old Mikhail Sobolev from Tyumen works at IK-18 “Polar Owl.” Data from leaked online databases suggests that his monthly income in 2022 amounted to roughly 100,000 rubles a month (just over $1,300 at current rates). Sobolev’s status on the social network VK reads “life is beautiful!!!”, and his subscriptions include his employer, the official account of FSIN in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District, and the communities called “Corporation of Evil,” and “Moonshiners.”
“They threatened to take turns penetrating me”
When Miftakhov again began losing consciousness, Sobolev and the convicts stopped the beating but immediately began threatening to rape him.
“They pulled down my pants and underwear. ... Mikhail began spreading cream on my anus with his fingers. At some point he stopped, but they continued threatening to take turns penetrating me.”
At that moment, a staff member whom others called “Alexei Viktorovich” entered the office. Miftakhov said the man saw him lying there with his pants down.
“Alexei Viktorovich” and the sewer hatch
“Alexei Viktorovich” spoke briefly with Sobolev. A few minutes later, Miftakhov was carried from the office into a hallway, where he said he was threatened with being dipped into a sewage hatch.
“They [Bulanov and Mikhail] brought my face close to the waste, and when my face was two centimeters away, they pulled me back and carried me back into the office.”
Miftakhov said the abuse then continued, and he was slapped, stepped on, and again threatened with rape. He said Bulanov, Mikhail, and Sobolev all took part in the beating in the office.
Miftakhov said Sobolev then struck him about 100 times on the head with his palm, before pinching his nose and covering his mouth until he began to suffocate.
Loud music drowns out screams during electric shocks
After that, Miftakhov, still bound with tape, was carried to the second floor of the operational department, where operatives Pavel Kiselyov and Yevgeny (last name unknown) joined the torturers. Miftakhov was placed on his stomach, and wires were attached to his toes.
“Then Bulanov turned on the current. I screamed. He said: ‘Ah, the bitch squealed.’ After that, they turned on the current for even longer. The pain was so terrible that I began screaming at the top of my lungs.”
To drown out his screams, Bulanov and Mikhail turned on pop music at full volume. The electric shock torture then continued.
“As soon as I started screaming, Mikhail pressed a towel to my mouth. It was very painful and frightening. When I began losing consciousness, they turned off the current. Half a minute later, they turned it on again, and this continued for some time,” Miftakhov said.
He said he was then turned over and placed on the floor, leaning against a couch. The wires were still attached to his feet. The operatives began trying to convince him that he was required to follow all administration orders, but Miftakhov refused. The current was then switched on again, and the torture was repeated after each refusal.
After that, Yevgeny ordered the wires removed from Miftakhov and the tape binding him cut off. He was allowed to put on his underwear and pants. Then, he said, two more prison guards entered the office. They also demanded that he obey any orders from the administration. Miftakhov continued to refuse.
By the end of the workday, the political prisoner was taken back to the quarantine room. Yevgeny, according to Miftakhov, promised to speak with him again the next day. After returning to quarantine, Miftakhov felt the effects of the torture: his heels, groin, and calves hurt badly.
A new case, pressure, and a transfer to Kharp
Azat Miftakhov, a graduate student at Moscow State University, was first arrested in 2019. In January 2021, he was sentenced to six years in a general-security penal colony on hooliganism charges. Investigators said that in January 2018, Miftakhov and a group of anarchists broke a window at an office of the ruling United Russia party in Moscow and threw a smoke bomb inside. He denied any wrongdoing.
In September 2023, Miftakhov was released, but was detained again as he left the colony — this time in a case involving the alleged “justification of terrorism.” The case was based on an alleged conversation between Miftakhov and another prisoner, who later served as the prosecution’s main witness and was subsequently killed in the war in Ukraine.
In the second case, Miftakhov was sentenced to four years in prison. He was to spend the first two and a half years in prison and the rest in a maximum-security penal colony. After completing the prison portion of his sentence, Miftakhov was transferred from a prison in Yelets to Penal Colony No. 18 (IK-18), known as Polar Owl, in the remote settlement of Kharp, nearly 40 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
While in custody, Miftakhov has regularly faced pressure and threats. In 2023, he said that after his 2019 arrest, the FSB used his intimate photographs to discredit him in the eyes of other prisoners and demote him to the lowest prison caste, known as the “offended.” His wife, Elena Gorban, said this worsened his position in the colony and led to additional difficulties and conflicts. In November 2024, Miftakhov’s support group said his safety in a prison in Dimitrovgrad was under threat because of a cellmate with a severe mental condition. Miftakhov spent almost all of 2025 in solitary confinement.
IK-18 “Polar Owl” is considered one of Russia’s most remote and harshest colonies. It is primarily intended for convicts serving life sentences, though it also has a maximum-security section, where Miftakhov was sent. Former political prisoner and human rights expert Ivan Astashin has reported that Polar Owl, along with Black Dolphin and White Swan, has a reputation as a torture prison. A prisoner with the last name Zakharkin, who had complained to the European Court of Human Rights about the incarceration conditions, was killed in the colony: other prisoners beat him to death on orders from the administration. Opposition politician Alexei Navalny was murdered in the nearby Kharp Penal Colony No. 3 (IK-3), known as “Polar Wolf.”
As Alexandra Zapolskaya, a member of Solidarité FreeAzat — an association created in France in 2023 by Russian and French trade union and political activists — told The Insider, French lawmakers and activists are concerned about Miftakhov’s transfer:
“The news of Azat’s transfer to Kharp came as a shock for us. On April 25, we held an emergency meeting in Paris, bringing together everyone who cares to join our fight for his freedom. Many people attended, including members of the French parliament. We are now structuring the solidarity campaign. We understand that only international publicity and frequent lawyer visits can protect Azat. The latter requires money. We urge everyone to contribute to the fight for him.
Azat’s case alone shows the full darkness of Russian repression. But darkness is not eternal, and solidarity is stronger than repression.”
Funds to support Miftakhov’s lawyers and legal defense team can be transferred:
- through the Solidarité FreeAzat form for euro transfers;
- via PayPal at [email protected] with the note “for Azat”;
to the Russian Sberbank card 5469 3800 5929 3380, registered to Elena Anatolyevna Gorban (Горбань Елена Анатольевна). Those sending money to the Russian card are asked to list the purpose of the transfer as “gift” («дарение»).
