Laurent Vinatier, 48, a French citizen, is a researcher for Swiss-based conflict mediation organization Humanitarian Dialogue (HD). While routinely researching military-related information in Russia, he was arrested and charged with failure to register as a foreign agent, and “collecting military information of value to foreign intelligence services.” (See 10/16/24 post.)

Vinatier and HD have vehemently denied that his work is in any way connected with, or useful to, any foreign intelligence service. But having admitted to the collection of information in the performance of his research work, he was sentenced to “only” three years in prison.

It will be interesting to see how long it will take Vladimir Putin to make the first overture toward a possible swap of Vinatier for Russian-born Pavel Durov, CEO of Telegram messaging service, currently being detained in France for refusing to cooperate with French authorities’ investigations of some of Telegram’s customers.

Sadly, in the meantime, Mr. Vinatier is one more for the hostage list.

*. *. *

And, as always, we remember those others who have already been convicted and imprisoned on spurious political grounds. In no particular order, they are:

No longer a hostage, Ukrainian journalist Viktoriia Roshchyna, age 27, died while in Russian custody on September 19th under unexplained circumstances; her family was not notified until nearly a month later. (See 10/13/24 post.) Her circumstances are under investigation by Ukrainian authorities, and we pay homage to her courage and integrity by keeping her on our list of hostages for a while longer.

*. *. *

Stephen James Hubbard, 72, who was teaching English in Ukraine. In April of 2022, he was charged with fighting as a mercenary for Ukraine in its defense against Russia. Following a closed-door trial, he was sentenced on October 7th to six years and ten months in a maximum-security prison.

A 72-year-old English teacher! Is there no limit to the depth of Vladimir Putin’s corruption?

*. *. *

U.S. Army Staff Sergeant Gordon Black, who was stationed in South Korea when he fell into a classic Russian “honey trap.” He was on his way back to his home in Texas, on two weeks’ leave, when he was lured to Vladivostok by the Russian girlfriend he had met in Korea. He was arrested in May of 2024 on charges of alleged larceny and murder threat, and sentenced the following month to a prison term of three years and nine months.

* . *. *

Marc Fogel, a schoolteacher from Pennsylvania, was arrested in August of 2021 for possession of 0.6 ounce of legally-prescribed (in the U.S.) medical marijuana. In June of 2022 he was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

*. *. *

Ksenia Karelina, dual U.S.-Russian citizen, recently convicted of espionage and sentenced to 12 years in prison for contributing $51.80 to an American charity providing aid to Ukraine.

*. *. *

Robert Romanov Woodland, a dual US-Russian citizen, was teaching English in Russia when he was arrested in January of 2024 for allegedly attempting to sell drugs. In July, he was sentenced to 12-1/2 years in a maximum security prison.

*. *. *

Robert Gilman, already in jail in Russia serving a 4-1/2-year sentence (later reduced to 3-1/2 years on appeal) for kicking a police officer in 2022, found himself facing added charges in 2023 of punching prison staff in the head, and later also attacking a criminal investigator and another prison guard.

*. *. *

David Barnes, an American citizen and resident of Texas, was arrested in January of 2022 while visiting his children, who had been taken to Russia from Texas by his Russian wife. He was charged and sentenced in the fall of that year to 21 years in prison for child abuse (allegedly occurring while in Texas), on his wife’s accusation. I really wish I knew more of this story!

*. *. *

Eugene Spector, a dual US-Russian citizen already serving a four-year sentence handed down in June of 2021 on a bribery conviction, received additional charges of suspicion of espionage in August of 2023. No other details have been found, as the evidence is labelled “classified.”

*. *. *

Michael Travis Leake, a rock musician and former paratrooper, was sentenced in July of this year to 13 years in prison on drug charges — specifically, suspicion of selling mephedrone, and organizing a drug trafficking business “involving young people.”

*. *. *

And again I ask: Are any of these prisoners actually guilty of the charges leveled against them? I don’t know. But I do know that the recent timing of a number of the arrests, and the speed with which they were brought to trial, is a clear indication of Russia’s intentional roundup of American citizens to be used as (what I call) Putin’s Pawns.

What they are, quite simply, are HOSTAGES. And they will not — MUST not — be forgotten. Let’s shorten this list to zero.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
10/20/24