Reports about a VIP cell and privileged conditions for Ulyukaev are not true, BFM reports with reference to the deputy chairman of the Moscow Public Monitoring Commission, Eva Merkacheva.

“Anyone who comes there to check will be surprised, because he is in absolutely the same conditions as the rest of the convicts. It is a fact. The only indulgence is working in the library,” she emphasized. According to Merkacheva, “a huge number of ill-wishers” are making sure that the former minister does not have any special conditions in the colony.

In general, the life of a former official in a colony takes place in an atmosphere similar to the army system, she clarified. “ This is a maximum security colony, convicts live in barracks (two-story buildings similar to dormitories),” Merkacheva explained. She added that the minister does periodically end up in the hospital due to his health condition.

On December 15, 2017, the Zamoskvoretsky court found Ulyukaev guilty of accepting a bribe of $2 million from Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin and sentenced him to eight years in a maximum security colony. He is also prohibited from holding positions in government bodies and state corporations for eight years.

Ulyukaev is serving his sentence in a correctional colony near Tver. Earlier, Telegram channels, including Mash, reported that special conditions had been created for him. So, according to them, he is being held in the medical unit of the colony in a renovated ward. His daily routine includes three meals a day and quiet time. The convicted ex-minister supposedly does not need to go to exercises, roll call or work.

The Federal Penitentiary Service (FSIN) later denied these reports. “The convict is being held in a high-security correctional colony under general conditions, lives in one of the detachments and is employed,” the FSIN press bureau said in a statement, as cited by Interfax.

The human rights activist spoke about the conditions of Ulyukaev’s detention in the colony