Rauf Arashukov, a former senator from Russia's Karachay-Cherkessia republic who is serving a life sentence, has announced a hunger strike at the Black Dolphin maximum-security penal colony in Russia's Orenburg region. He says he was placed in a punishment cell after refusing to work in a prison sewing workshop where temperatures reached around 40 degrees Celsius and ventilation was inadequate.

Arashukov has refused food since Aug. 1 and is drinking only water, his lawyer Dmitry Trubnikov said. He is currently being held in a punishment cell and is demanding what he described as "normal working conditions."

A more detailed account of the incident was published on a Telegram channel operated in Arashukov's name since last November. According to the post, the dispute with the prison administration began on July 29, when a prison officer escorted him to work and ordered that airflow into the workshop be blocked.

According to Arashukov's account, the workshop lacks proper ventilation and an exhaust system, prompting him to refuse to begin work. The following day, prison officials demanded an explanation for his alleged violation of prison regulations. On July 31, the window in the workshop was again found to be sealed shut after, he claims, its handle had been removed.

Arashukov said prison staff allowed the window to be opened only after he complained that his health was deteriorating and demanded medical assistance. He said the temperature inside the workshop had reached 40 degrees Celsius. After twice refusing to report for work, he was placed in a punishment cell for 10 days. The former senator also alleged that he had been insulted by a prison employee and said his hunger strike was a form of protest. His account has not been independently verified.

Before being transferred to the punishment cell, Arashukov worked at the prison's sewing facility. In early June, his lawyer said he had been assigned to an individual sewing workshop.

In recent months, Arashukov has repeatedly complained about his detention conditions and has unsuccessfully sought a transfer to another penal colony.

This spring, his relatives asked prison authorities to transfer him from Orenburg region to a penal colony in Mordovia. During a court hearing in March, Arashukov said the request had been submitted earlier that month. The transfer was denied, after which his legal team said it would appeal the decision.

A separate legal dispute concerned purchases from the prison commissary. Arashukov sought 100,000 roubles (about $1,250) in compensation for moral damages from Penal Colony No. 6. He said he had ordered 18 food items worth around 14,000 roubles but received goods worth only 4,172 roubles, adding that some of the products delivered did not match his order. In late April, the Sol-Iletsk District Court dismissed his claim in full. During the proceedings, the prison administration said some of the requested items had been unavailable in the commissary.

In January 2026, Arashukov received another prison sentence after being convicted of attempting to bribe an employee of the Black Dolphin penal colony. Investigators said the former senator had offered three million roubles in exchange for preferential detention conditions. The court sentenced him to an additional 10 years in prison and fined him 120 million roubles. An appellate court later upheld the verdict.

Shortly before the bribery case was opened, Arashukov publicly apologised to Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov on Instagram "for all my mistakes" and asked him to help both him and his family.

Rauf Arashukov was arrested in January 2019 during a session of Russia's Federation Council, the upper house of parliament. His father, Raul Arashukov, who had held senior positions at Gazprom Mezhregiongaz, was detained at the same time.

In December 2022, the Moscow City Court sentenced both men to life imprisonment. They were convicted of organising a criminal group, commissioning contract killings and other crimes. The Arashukovs denied all charges, but both the appellate and cassation courts upheld the verdict. Raul Arashukov died in prison in 2023.

At the time of publication, the Federal Penitentiary Service's Orenburg regional department had not publicly commented on Arashukov's allegations regarding his hunger strike, detention conditions, excessive heat in the workshop or his placement in a punishment cell.