«Now we have all the time in the world, and there’s no need to rush» — The story of Sasha Skochilenko’s reunion with her loved ones

Текст на русскомPlane trees are giant and sprawling, with sharp leaves and velvety fruit balls. There are many of them in the German city of Cologne. Sasha walks through the unusually buzzing city, turns to a park, carefully touches a trunk, puts her hand on it, strokes the bark. It is rough to the touch and warm from the August sun. A man in a wheelchair is sitting next to her.He watches her, tries to say something, but she doesn’t understand German. Then he repeats in English: «It’s really cool that someone else in this city loves these trees».«And I just started telling him everything!» Sasha waves her arms. «I say, like, I was a political prisoner for two and a half years, I just want to touch these trees! Usually people look at me like I’m crazy, but he understood».Sasha was detained on April 11, 2022, after she replaced price tags at the Perekrestok grocery store with small anti-war labels. She touched a tree for the first time in over two years on August 3, 2024, 48 hours after the unprecedented prisoner exchange between Russia and the West.