Journalist Ivan Safronov, sentenced to 22 years for "treason", on February 27, the last day of winter, wrote a letter from the Krasnoyarsk colony. It was published in the Telegram channel created in support of Safronov. In the letter, the journalist says that on March 1 he will be able to look at the sky for several minutes. We present the letter in full.
"Hi all! This is Safronov. And today – February 28 – the last day of winter has come. With what you all and congratulations! I can’t speak for everyone, but spring has always given me some kind of hope, a breath of fresh air, an understanding that life is entering a new circle … This is my first spring [since my arrest] when I can see the sky not in the box. It means a lot to me, honestly. Tomorrow I will enter the detachment's local sector and just admire the sky for a few minutes. Of course, someone will say that this is a trifle and nonsense. But I don't think so.
In Krasnoyarsk, the weather is not quite spring yet, of course. In the morning, for example, it snowed. But the snow – no matter how strong it is – begins to melt under the sun. And you must always remember that spring is not only the weather, but also a state of mind. And the last is much more important. With the first day of spring!
Yours Vanya Safronov
PS: many people asked me how and how in general I got from Lefortovo to Krasnoyarsk. I picked up, it seems to me, an ideal quote from Arap Peter the Great by A.S. Pushkin: “The journey did not seem to him as terrible as he expected. Ibrahim's imagination triumphed over materiality. Let's break through!"
Ivan Safronov, who worked as a journalist for Kommersant and Vedomosti, and also served as an adviser to the head of Roscosmos, was detained in July 2020. The FSB stated that the journalist, "carrying out the task of one of NATO's special services, collected and handed over to its representative information on military-technical cooperation, defense and security of the Russian Federation that constitutes a state secret." On September 5, 2022, the court found Safronov guilty of treason and sentenced him to 22 years in a strict regime colony.
The detention of Ivan Safronov may be related to his article about the supply of Russian MiGs to Egypt, published in Kommersant in the spring of 2019. In connection with this publication, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo threatened Egypt with sanctions for the purchase of Russian fighters. During the investigation, the FSB offered Safronov to make a deal and hand over his sources, but he refused.