Ivanov-Sukharevsky has been jailed on more than one occasion, notably in February 1999 when he was remanded for inciting hatred. During this period he shared a cell with Semyon Tokmakov, the leader of the Russian skinhead gang Russian Goal, and he began to recruit the skinheads to his cause. The two published a joint letter from Butyrka prison in the PNP paper "Ya-Russky", and as a result the paper became a popular seller among racist skinheads. He was found guilty in April 2002, although he was almost immediately released under an amnesty.