The history of the disappearance and liberation of Alexei Kotov - a man who spent 20 years in captivity In November 2021, Russian Alexei Kotov recorded a video in which he reported that for 20 years he has been in Kazakhstan in labor slavery. He later abandoned his words and stated that he voluntarily lived on a farm in the Karaganda region. “Cold” tells what happened to Alexei Kotov, what his life looked in the steppe and what it was - to return to his native village after so many years.