In the early months of Russia’s war against Ukraine, the city of Mariupol, located in the eastern Ukraine region of Donetsk, was defended in part by the Azov regiment. When the city fell to the brutal onslaught of the Russian forces, prisoners of war were taken, including members of the Azov regiment.

Twelve of those soldiers have just been convicted of terrorist activities and sentenced by a Russian military court to prison terms ranging from 13 to 23 years.

They were not tried as ordinary prisoners of war. Rather, their entire regiment has been declared by Russia to be a terrorist organization, thus depriving its members of their rightful protections under the Geneva Conventions of 1949 — to which both Russia and Ukraine are parties.

Russia’s rationale is that the group — known as the Azov Battalion — was founded by a hardline nationalist, Andriy Biletskiy, to fight the Russian forces that had invaded Ukraine’s Donbas region. However, in 2014, it was blended into the Ukrainian National Guard and disassociated from Biletskiy’s radical form of nationalism. It has remained apolitical since that time. In 2022, its members were ordinary soldiers, fighting for their country against an invading enemy.

When the nearly 2,500 fighters in Mariupol eventually surrendered to Russian forces in May of 2022, Vladimir Putin guaranteed that they would be treated according to international standards. But thus far, some 145 have been convicted as terrorists.

Ukraine’s human rights ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, has accused Russia of violating international humanitarian law, and called the verdicts “illegal”:

“Ukrainian prisoners of war are combatants, not criminals! They were fulfilling their duty to the state, protecting its territorial integrity and sovereignty.” [Yulia Dysa, Mark Trevelyan and Andrew Osborn, Reuters, March 26, 2025.]

Once again, Putin circumvents international law by ignoring the truth, twisting the facts, and accusing his victims of being the aggressors. And in so doing in this instance, he has created a new category of political prisoners: not civilian dissidents, but military combatants who had the courage to defend their country against his unprovoked invasion.

I do not have the names of these most recent hostages, but they deserve to be added to our list of those wrongfully imprisoned. I will, for now, simply call them “The Azov 12.”

*. *. *

And we continue to remember all of those on our list of unjustly held hostages in Vladimir Putin’s GULAG of penal colonies:

The Azov 12
David Barnes
Ales Bialiatski (in Belarus)
Gordon Black
Andrei Chapiuk (in Belarus)
Robert Gilman
Stephen James Hubbard
Ksenia Karelina
Ihar Karney (in Belarus)
Vadim Kobzev
Uladzimir Labkovich (in Belarus)
Michael Travis Leake
Aleksei Liptser
Ihar Losik (in Belarus)
Daniel Martindale
Farid Mehralizada (in Azerbaijan)
Nika Novak
Marfa Rabkova (in Belarus)
Igor Sergunin
Dmitry Shatresov
Robert Shonov
Eugene Spector
Valiantsin Stafanovic (in Belarus)
Siarhei Tsikhanouski (in Belarus)
Laurent Vinatier
Robert Romanov Woodland
Vladislav Yesypenko (in Crimea)
Yuras Zyankovich (in Belarus)

*. *. *

And — like a broken record — I again offer this plea to Donald Trump in the White House . . . though I assume it will likely continue to fall on deaf ears, as it has thus far:

“Amidst all of the hubbub of your new administration, it is imperative that these innocent men and women not be forgotten. Negotiations for their safe release have been underway for some time. President Joe Biden succeeded in bringing home 16 innocent people on August 1st of last year, and you have added two others to that list. But you should be trying to do even more. Whatever else you do, this should be high on your list of priorities. The people you promised to represent are counting on you.

“Perhaps this would be an appropriate time to remind you also of the oath you swore on January 20th:

“‘I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.’

“I’m sure there’s a copy of that Constitution lying around the White House. If not, you can Google it. This is what it looks like, in case you’ve forgotten.”

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
3/30/25