August 2 – Yesterday, Sasha Skochilenko was released as part of a historic prisoner exchange between Russia and Western countries. Sasha’s Academic Advisor during her studies at Smolny, Ilya Kalinin, shared his thoughts on the momentous occasion:

“Now our graduate (Smolny, 2017), who was sentenced to seven years in prison for replacing supermarket price tags with anti-war leaflets about civilian casualties in Ukraine, is finally safe. The two years and almost four months Sasha spent in a Russian prison are over. I vividly remember her diploma thesis on state control mechanisms over children’s programming on Russian television. Equally memorable is the bitter and ironic postscript from one of her prison letters: ‘Sometimes I am not even surprised that such a penitentiary experience fell to my lot. Perhaps I was too fond of Foucault.’ Now, this chapter is behind her. We eagerly await your return, Sasha!”

Ilya Kalinin
Smolny Beyond Borders; Humboldt University in Berlin