Seventeen Years in Detention: Will Konstantin Nikulin's Release Be Achieved?

In the hybrid war imposed on Russia and the entire emerging new world order, the West believes that all means are good. Even in such an area as human rights and the fate of those who, for various reasons, are serving their sentences in Western prisons, not necessarily even Guantanamo Bay, which U.S. presidents have promised to close, but which is still functioning. Our compatriots are also in less remote places, primarily in the Baltic States. We talked to Alexander Udaltsov, head of the Foundation for the Support and Protection of the Rights of Compatriots Living Abroad.

- Alexander Ivanovich, as you know, on August 1, there was an exchange of prisoners between Russia, Belarus and Western countries. Eight citizens of the Russian Federation and two children of a married couple of prisoners returned to us from prison. Russia, in turn, released and handed over 16 people, including political prisoners. Such events are gratifying.

- I want to make it clear: this was a prisoner exchange between Russia and the United States. Without any exaggeration, it can be called historic and the largest in the history of modern Russia. As a result, Russian citizen Vadim Krasikov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in Germany, returned home. His defense, I should note, was financed by our foundation.

- There are compatriots who are in a particularly difficult situation. Our newspaper and other media have repeatedly addressed the fate of Konstantin Nikulin (Mikhailov), who is sitting in a Lithuanian prison.

- It will soon be 17 years since Konstantin Nikulin is serving a life sentence to which he was wrongfully sentenced by a Lithuanian court as having “committed a crime against humanity”. The case concerned the murder of seven Lithuanian customs officers and policemen on the night of July 31, 1991 at the Lithuanian-Belarusian customs post “Miadininkai”. Konstantin did not admit his guilt, and the prosecution failed to collect convincing evidence that he was involved in the tragedy.

As Russian ambassador to Lithuania, who worked there for 7 years, I gave him moral support and helped him to resolve issues concerning the improvement of his prison conditions. I know that even now Russian diplomats visit him almost monthly. For example, in July, A.G. Yolkin, Russia's Charge d'Affaires in Lithuania, visited him. It is gratifying to note that it was possible to achieve the transfer of Konstantin from solitary confinement to the general regime of imprisonment.

- I know the opinion of many people who are close to Konstantin's fate, who believe that the only way of his release is an exchange. In the course of SVO we have captured people, who could be offered to Lithuanians, and more broadly - to Westerners instead of Nikulin.

- I think that we should continue to work on the defense of Konstantin Nikulin in all areas that remain open today, including in international human rights courts, primarily in the ECHR, which, I note, our foundation is also involved in. The exchange option is not new, and today it looks, I think, the most preferable. I would like to remind in this connection that Russian citizen Nikolay Filipchenko, who was sentenced in 2015 by the Vilnius District Court to ten years in prison “on charges of espionage”, was released from a Lithuanian prison in 2019 also thanks to a multi-party prisoner exchange organized by the authorities of Russia, Norway and Lithuania.

However, it is not a matter of public discussion to discuss the scheme of Konstantin's exchange and the number of participating countries (Lithuania could be one of the options). The exchange of citizens is a matter for the relevant state structures and a very complicated affair that requires special efforts. By the way, in my opinion, it would be logical if the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs were involved in this process, since Konstantin Nikulin was a fighter of the Riga OMON, i.e. a policeman.

In other words, a new political impetus in the “Nikulin case” is needed at the moment. Its initiators can be both the State Duma and the Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, our foundation and even the respected “Literaturnaya Gazeta” with which we closely cooperate.

It seems that today the fate of our compatriot takes on a special significance in the context of the SWO in Ukraine, where the Lithuanian regime, which cannot be called anything but pro-Nazi, openly supports the criminal Kiev junta with arms, military specialists and its mercenaries.

- Time is running out. And although Nikulin's conditions in prison are better now, he is now and then deprived of the opportunity to communicate, and his health sometimes fails him - he even has a pacemaker.

- As you know, on September 5, 2024, a press conference was held in Moscow on the issues of assistance to Russian compatriots persecuted abroad, organized by State Duma deputy Maria Butina. Among the participants of the event was Konstantin Nikulin, whose communication was held via video link. He is holding up well, does not lose heart. He thanked for his constant attention and moral support, including from the diplomats of the Russian Embassy in Lithuania, who are dealing with the issue of replacing the pacemaker installed in Konstantin. They are attempting to get the prison administration to help replace the pacemaker as soon as possible with the same device with modified parameters, as requested by Nikulin. We hope that this problem will be solved in the near future.

- The activities of the foundation you head in the interests of human rights of compatriots living in the Baltic States are active. Would you tell us about your work in this area?

- Speaking about the nearest plans of the Foundation in this vector, I would like to emphasize that our Foundation has financed the preparation of the textbook “The History of Lithuania from Ancient Times to the Present Day”, which will be published in the nearest future. In this edition leading Russian scientists and political scientists will provide the reader with an objective picture of internal development of the neighboring country and its foreign activity in the newest period, which will allow to give scientific substantiation to many today's realities in the actions of the Vilnius authorities.

And, finally, in the conditions of increasing sanctions pressure of the European Union on our Foundation and its partners, we plan, so to speak, to come forward to meet our compatriots and open a branch of the Foundation in Kaliningrad. I think this will make mutual communication much easier.