MOSCOW, June 6. /TASS/. The Kiev regime has imprisoned about 13,000 people for political reasons, representing a quarter of the total prison population, and most of these political prisoners are elderly women, Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to OSCE Alexander Volgarev said.

"About one out of four people in jail is serving time on various political charges," he stated as cited by the Russian Foreign Ministry. "The majority of political prisoners in Ukraine are elderly women whose only ‘crime’ is handing out humanitarian aid, compiling lists of those in need of social subsidies or teaching children in schools," he emphasized.

Volgarev cited estimates, according to which, "as of today, up to 13,000 political prisoners are being kept in the Kiev regime’s jails." "This is an enormous figure, given that the total number of individuals in penitentiaries does not surpass 40,000," the diplomat added.

The envoy highlighted the fact that Kiev’s unprecedented wave of repression ruthlessly crushes everyone, not just prominent social figures and human rights activists. "The number of Kherson Region residents accused of collaborationism who took part in a referendum approving accession to Russia is already in the thousands," he pointed out.

"Simultaneously, independent law practice is also being wiped out," the diplomat added. "Independent attorneys, such as Svetlana Novitskaya or Vladimir Yevgelevsky, end up behind bars under the same contrived pretexts. The relatives of inmates are being intimidated. They also live in constant fear for their life and freedom. The lawyers appointed by the SBU are definitely not interested in standing up for the interests of their clients and exposing the criminal actions of Ukrainian special services," he concluded.