Elena Nikulina Released from Mordovian Colony. Her Husband was Also Serving Time

On August 11, 2026, Elena Nikulina was released from prison. A 57-year-old believer from Saransk spent more than three years in a penal colony in the village of Yavas for talking about the Bible, which the investigation qualified as participation in extremist activities. She served her term in full.

Elena has been held in the women's penal colony since March 2023, and before that she was in a pre-trial detention center for about five months. Her husband Georgiy, convicted in the same case, was released in December 2025. Due to court restrictions, he could not visit Elena in the colony.

The first months in the colony were the most difficult for Elena. Several times during the formation, the woman lost consciousness, in six months she lost 20 kg. The doctor diagnosed the believer with angina pectoris, exhaustion and dehydration and sent her to a medical correctional facility for 20 days. After that, Nikulina underwent planned treatment in the hospital once a year. By the time of her release, her weight had returned to normal, but there are still problems with her teeth—the believer is in dire need of dental care.

Elena is a professional seamstress and worked in a sewing workshop throughout her imprisonment: at first, directly on a sewing machine, later she was transferred to interoperational control. Her responsibilities included checking the quality of tailoring, correcting mistakes, as well as teaching others how to sew on professional equipment. Physically, the work was difficult for her. There was a period when shifts lasted 12 hours with one day off every two weeks. Due to heavy loads, Elena's eyesight dropped greatly and her hand became numb.

Elena was deeply upset by the atmosphere in which she had to live: rudeness, shouting and humiliation of human dignity. But she herself remained sympathetic and retained her humanity. Elena often helped others in everyday matters, and also morally supported those who were not visited and who were not cared for by relatives and friends. Some prisoners warmly called her Aunt Lenochka.

It took Elena time to get used to the conditions of the colony physically and emotionally. Over time, she began to look at her situation differently. "Sometimes it seemed to me that I was suffering a lot," Elena related. "But then I began to think: after all, I have everything here—a full bowl. They take care of me, they don't torture me." Although letters almost did not reach Elena, friends and her sister took care of her, visited her, sent parcels with everything she needed. Such care did not go unnoticed by the staff and other prisoners.

A criminal case against the Nikulin couple was opened in February 2019 after mass searches in the homes of believers in Saransk. The investigation regarded the conversations about the Bible as participation in the activities of an extremist organization and involvement in it. In August 2022, the Lenin District Court of Saransk sentenced Elena and Georgiy Nikulin to 4 years and 2 months in prison each. The appeal left the verdict unchanged.

Elena became the fifth of six defendants in the criminal case to be released: Aleksandr Shevchuk was released in November 2023, Aleksandr Korolev and Denis Antonov in June 2024, Georgy Nikulin in December 2025. Vladimir Atryakhin's term expires in March 2028.