How quickly these Sundays roll around! And this one brings with it two updates.

I wrote about Gordon Black a few days ago, giving you the bad news that he has been tried, convicted (no surprise there), and sentenced to three years and nine months in prison for what essentially amounts to theft, assault and battery, and being foolish enough to have gone to Vladivostok in the first place. So I’m sorry to say that he is now firmly ensconced in his place on our HOSTAGE list, with the U.S. Army waiting for him when he is finally released. Not a happy prospect, but he is still young enough to learn from his mistakes.

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The second bit of news — somewhat more surprising because of the comparative speed with which it has all taken place — is the trial of another American citizen, Ksenia Karelina. Actually holding dual Russian-American citizenship, she has been living in the U.S. since 2021, and in February of this year traveled to Yekaterinburg, Russia, to visit her parents. While there, she was arrested on grounds of “collecting funds used to purchase tactical medical items, equipment, means of destruction and ammunition” for Ukraine. Now get this: what she did was make a $51.80 donation in the United States to a New York-based, non-profit human rights organization collecting funds for the Ukrainian Army. But although she committed no crime on Russian soil, the Russian authorities were aware of her donation (a frightening fact in itself), and considered her — as also a Russian citizen — a criminal.

And now, after barely four months in detention in a Yekaterinburg prison, she is on trial for “taking part in public actions to support the Kyiv regime.” Her first hearing was held — behind closed doors, so no details are available — on Thursday; the next hearing isn’t scheduled until August 7th. If convicted (“if”??), she could face up to 20 years in prison.

I know that those last four months in prison have seemed like an eternity to Karelina, but other HOSTAGES have been rotting in various Russian prisons for years. So why the sudden movement by the Russian legal system (such as it is) on these two cases? There is something Vladimir Putin wants, and as always, we wait for him to show his hand. Russian investigative journalist Andrei Soldatov told CNN the FSB (Federal Security Service) is “build[ing] up a bank of hostages with American passports” to use “as leverage” in negotiations with Washington. [Christian Edwards, CNN, June 20, 2024.] I’d call that a well-reasoned conclusion — but if I were Mr. Soldatov, I wouldn’t shout it from the top of the Kremlin wall.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
6/23/24

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And please — once again — let us not forget the other HOSTAGES, still wasting away in various Russian prisons and penal colonies for the simple act of disagreeing with Vladimir Putin’s increasingly onerous edicts. It is for them that this regular Sunday posting is written.

To those known . . .

Vladimir Kara-Murza – HOSTAGE
Evan Gershkovich – HOSTAGE
Paul Whelan – HOSTAGE
Ilya Yashin – HOSTAGE
Robert Woodland Romanov – HOSTAGE
Boris Akunin – HOSTAGE
Marc Hilliard Fogel – HOSTAGE
Asya Kazantseva – HOSTAGE
Ilya Barabanov – HOSTAGE
Alsu Kurmasheva – HOSTAGE
Aleksandr Skobov – HOSTAGE
Antonina Favorskaya – HOSTAGE
Oleg Orlov – HOSTAGE
Boris Kagarlitsky – HOSTAGE
Oleg Navalny – HOSTAGE
Ksenia Karelina – HOSTAGE
Ksenia Fadeyeva – HOSTAGE
Lilia Chanysheva – HOSTAGE
Vadim Ostanin – HOSTGE
Sergei Udaltsov – HOSTAGE
Konstantin Gabov – HOSTAGE
Danuta Perednya – HOSTAGE
Olesya Krivtsova – HOSTAGE
Staff Sgt. Gordon Black – HOSTAGE

. . . and those hundreds of others whose names remain unknown to me . . . you are not forgotten, nor have you been abandoned. The fight continues on your behalf.

Brendochka
6/23/24