Sasha Skochilenko was released in Moscow's prisoner exchange with Washington after spending more than two years behind bars for protesting against Russia's war in Ukraine.
ADVERTISEMENTArtist Sasha Skochilenko and her partner Sonya Subbotina were not able to wed in their home country of Russia because it does not recognise same-sex marriages.
But with Skochilenko newly freed from Russian prison and living in Germany, where same-sex marriage is legal, the couple plans to tie the knot.
"I feel that I’m in a very free country because we can walk down the street, and if I kiss Sasha, not only would no one tell us that it's disgusting, but they won't even pay attention to it, because it's just in the nature of things," said Subbotina.
"People often have distorted opinions about the LGBTQ+ community because they don't know anyone (in person), or they know somebody who doesn't say (they’re gay)," Skochilenko added. "If they see an adequate person who is not trying to prove anything, they talk to them and realise that they love a person of the same sex."
"And after socialising (with us) for a long time, the person understands that what I have, what Sonya has, is a serious feeling," she said.
In 2020, the Russian constitution explicitly outlawed same-sex marriage as part of a reform pushed through by President Vladimir Putin to extend his rule.
One of the reform clauses stipulated that marriage could only be officiated between a man and a woman.
In 2022, Putin signed off on yet another law restricting gay rights, banning any public endorsement of LGBTQ+ relationships.
Jailed for anti-war protesting
Skochilenko was arrested and detained in Russia in April 2022 over several price tags in a supermarket that she had replaced with anti-war slogans.
She struggled in jail, suffering from multiple chronic conditions, including celiac disease, which meant that she couldn't eat food containing gluten.
Subbotina began commuting to Skochilenko's jail at least twice a week, bringing her food she could eat, medicines, and other necessities.
She and their other friends also made sure Skochilenko's case, which immediately drew much public outrage, remained in the headlines.
For a whole year, the two didn't see each other — on paper, they weren't related, so the investigators made Subbotina a witness in the case and refused to allow her to visit or receive phone calls from Skochilenko.
"I know many partners of political prisoners. Mainly it's women waiting for their men," Subbotina said. "Often, they get married right in the pre-trial detention centre or in the penal colony. This is possible, and it gives them the right to long visits, it gives them the right to get phone calls, short visits, because they have a certain status in the eyes of the authorities."
"We've never had this opportunity, of course," she added.
ADVERTISEMENTSubbotina says it was "a miracle" that she was eventually allowed to come for short visits.
In November 2023, Skochilenko was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison.
A new life in Germany
Sasha Skochilenko and Sonya Subbotina were reunited just under two weeks ago in Germany.
They say they don't know how or in which city they will marry. The couple want to start a new life in Germany, with Skochilenko making plans to continue with her art.
ADVERTISEMENTShe also intends to work through the trauma that the prison experience gave her.
Subbotina, a nurse and a pharmacist by training, hopes to work in human rights and find a way to help the hundreds of other political prisoners still languishing in Russia
They both admit that while they had never expected to leave Russia like that, it is for the best.