Let’s add another couple of names today to the ever-expanding list, beginning — almost unbelievably — with Alexei Navalny’s younger brother, Oleg. He hasn’t been arrested yet, as he is apparently living outside Russia. But on February 20th, as Alexei’s family continued to haggle with officials over the release of his body for burial, a warrant was issued for the arrest of Oleg. He now appears as “Wanted” on the database of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs . . . on unspecified charges of alleged criminal activity, presumably to be figured out at some later time.

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And already in prison is one Ilya Yashin, another anti-Putin activist. Somehow, amidst all of the publicity regarding Alexei Navalny and the others, I managed to overlook this case until recently, for which I apologize to Mr. Yashin.

In December of 2022, Yashin was sentenced to 8-1/2 years in a “general regime” prison colony: for spreading “fakes” about the Russian military. His appeal was denied the following April. His actual “crime”: making statements on his YouTube channel about war crimes allegedly committed by Russian forces in Bucha, Ukraine — incidents already well documented by numerous international news services.

In November of 2023, attorney Mikhail Biryukov reported that Yashin had been transferred from a pretrial detention center in Moscow to a detention center in Smolensk, noting that this was not to be his final destination and that the exact prison colony in which Yashin would serve out his sentence was still unknown.

In December of 2023, it was reported that he had been placed in a stricter-regime unit after serving five days in solitary confinement, following which he was “not allowed to use a phone to call his relatives now; parcels and visitations are also restricted.” [RadioFreeEurope / RadioLiberty, Dec. 8, 2023.]

On Friday, February 23, 2024, upon learning of the death of Alexei Navalny, Yashin expressed his concern for fellow activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, writing that Navalny’s death had made it “obvious that the life of every Russian political prisoner is under threat.” He pointed out numerous similarities between the cases of Navalny and Kara-Murza, and wrote in an open letter to world leaders: “Almost all Western leaders spoke out about Navalny’s death, blaming Putin for this tragedy. Prove your good will and use all your diplomatic resources to attain the immediate release of Kara-Murza. Do this before it’s too late.” [Novaya Gazeta Europe, Feb. 23, 2024.]

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So I urge you once more: Do not forget or forsake those men and women being held HOSTAGE by the Russian government, who have done no more than speak out against the dictatorial, fascist regime of Vladimir Putin. While they have been forced into silence, we have not.

Let us use our voices for them.

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Please . . . bring them home!

Brendochka
2/26/24