Four days ago, I reported on the reemergence of American Daniel Martindale, who had apparently been missing since being “removed . . . from territory controlled by the Ukrainian armed forces” the previous November.

Martindale suddenly turned up in Moscow last week, where he said at a press conference that he had spent the past two years in Ukraine, spying and reporting on Ukrainian forces for the Russian military . . . and that he now wished to become a Russian citizen.

Well, he has gotten his wish . . . and he has been stricken from our list of Putin’s political hostages, where I had placed him in the mistaken belief that he might have been captured and was being held by Russian authorities.

Martindale never belonged on that list. He was a turncoat . . . a traitor to his country . . . and an accomplice to Putin’s brutal war of attrition against Ukraine.

To my mind, he is nothing more than a footnote to history, best forgotten.

*. *. *

But the true hostages — those political prisoners serving sentences for fabricated crimes who, in reality, have done no more than speak their consciences — remain incarcerated, awaiting justice and a return to their homes and families. And so we remind them again this week that they are not forgotten:

Prisoners of War:

The People of Ukraine
The Azov 12

Political Prisoners:

In Azerbaijan:

The “Azerbaijan 7”:
— Farid Mehralizada
— Ulvi Hasanli
— Sevinj Abbasova (Vagifqiai)
— Mahammad Kekalov
— Hafiz Babali
— Nargiz Absalamova
— Elnara Gasimova

In Russia, except as otherwise indicated:

David Barnes
Ales Bialiatski (in Belarus)
Gordon Black
Andrei Chapiuk (in Belarus)
Antonina Favorskaya
Konstantin Gabov
Robert Gilman
Stephen James Hubbard
Sergey Karelin
Vadim Kobzev
Darya Kozyreva
Artyom Kriger
Uladzimir Labkovich (in Belarus)
Michael Travis Leake
Aleksei Liptser
Ihar Losik (in Belarus)
Mikita Losik (in Belarus)
Grigory Melkonyants
Nika Novak
Marfa Rabkova (in Belarus)
Nadezhda Rossinskaya (a.k.a. Nadin Geisler)
Igor Sergunin
Dmitry Shatresov
Robert Shonov
Eugene Spector
Valiantsin Stafanovic (in Belarus)
Laurent Vinatier
Robert Romanov Woodland
Yuras Zyankovich (in Belarus)

. . . and any others I may have overlooked.

Have courage, remain strong, and do not lose hope. The world is waiting for you.

*. *. *

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/20/25