During an interrogation, Tchernavin was told why he was placed in a specific cell: “’I hope we will come to an understanding and that I will not be forced to change the regime I have ordered for you. The third category is the mildest: exercise in the yard, permission to receive food parcels from outside, a newspaper and books. Remember, however, that it depends entirely on me; any minute you may be deprived of everything and transferred to solitary confinement. Or rather, this depends not on me but on your own behavior, your sincerity. The more frank your testimony, the better will be the conditions of your imprisonment. I placed you in a common cell so that you can get familiar with our regulations. You acquaint yourself, so to say, at first hands with our methods, and I believe….you will become more compliant. We have discarded medieval methods; we don’t hang up by the legs or cut off strips of skin from the back, but we have other means, no less effective, and we know how to force the truth.’”