Lawyer Ksenia Kostromina tells Open Russia about her meeting with client Alexey Pichugin in Lefortovo prison

When was Alexey brought to Moscow?

On Saturday. He was brought by train.

So yesterday, when members of the Public Monitoring Commission were visiting Lefortovo, he was hidden away from us, and you were denied access to him?

That would appear to be the case. I told Alexei that his relocation had attracted a lot of press attention. Alexei said that it was never explained to him where he was being taken, or what rationale was behind his relocation.  

How is he feeling?

He’s well, his mood is good. He’s upbeat and energetic, he’s got his game face on and he’s feeling combative. He said that his stance on the case remains the same.

Was any pressure exerted on him by the operations officers?

No, none.

Has he been transferred for a two-month period by order of the investigator, as is usually the case?

Alexey has not been informed about this, and the prison director didn’t say anything to me about it either.

Does Alexei believe there is a link between his relocation and the investigative proceedings, or is he linking it to a potential in-absentia trial for the murder of Mayor Petukhov?

We have, of course, discussed the possibility of his being questioned in relation to the murder of Mayor Petukhov, but nothing has officially been explained to him.

Alexei Pichugin, a former Yukos employee currently serving a life sentence, was transferred from  the Black Dolphin penal colony to Lefortovo Prison. An anonymous source informed Interfax that Pichugin was brought to Moscow for a “procedural consolidation of evidence” in a new case against Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

In December 2015, the Investigative Committee accused the former Yukos chief of orchestrating the murder of Nefteyugansk mayor Vladimir Petukhov in 1998. Mikhail Khodorkovsky has repeatedly and publicly called on Pichugin to testify any which way to secure his freedom, but, according to his lawyers, Alexei has refused to give false testimony against his former colleagues or to plead guilty to any crimes.