With the focus being on the good news of the Israel-Gaza hostage/prisoner exchange, the past week has brought no news of changes in the status of those political hostages still being held by Vladimir Putin and his allies.

But there has been word from some of Putin’s former prisoners, including Vladimir Kara-Murza, who returned home as part of the multinational swap in August of 2024.

Kara-Murza and another former prisoner — Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who has been living in exile in London since his 2013 release following ten years in a Russian prison — have, along with others, formed the Anti-War Committee of Russia, whose manifesto states that its goals are to stop the war in Ukraine and to oppose Putin’s dictatorial regime. And as such, they are being investigated by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB, successor to the KGB), accused of having created a “terrorist organization” and plotting to seize power. These include former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, ex-Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov, and leading economists Sergei Aleksashenko and Sergei Guriev. [RFE/RL, October 14, 2025.]

In addition, the surviving members of deceased prisoner Aleksei Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK), also in exile, continue to be a major thorn in Putin’s side. Led by Navalny’s widow, Yulia Navalnaya, they continue the fight for which her husband gave his life.

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Hopefully, the political prisoners still languishing in Putin’s prisons are aware that these groups, among others, are continuing the fight on their behalf.

And once again, here are the names of those prisoners known to me:

Immigrant Detainees in Russia:

Migrants from the Central Asian nations of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan

Prisoners of War:

The 19,500 Kidnapped Ukrainian Children
The People of Ukraine

Endangered Exiles:

Mikita Losik
Yulia Navalnaya
Countless Journalists and Other Dissidents

Political Prisoners:

In Azerbaijan:

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

In Belarus:

Ales Bialiatski
Andrei Chapiuk
Marya Kalesnikava
Uladzimir Labkovich
Marfa Rabkova
Valiantsin Stafanovic
Yuras Zyankovich

In China:

Chenyue Mao (American)

In Russia:

David Barnes (American)
Gordon Black (American)
Antonina Favorskaya
Konstantin Gabov
Robert Gilman (American)
Stephen James Hubbard (American)
Sergey Karelin
Timur Kishukov
Vadim Kobzev
Darya Kozyreva
Artyom Kriger
Michael Travis Leake (American)
Aleksei Liptser
Grigory Melkonyants
Nika Novak
Nadezhda Rossinskaya (a.k.a. Nadin Geisler)
Sofiane Sehili (French)
Igor Sergunin
Dmitry Shatresov
Robert Shonov
Grigory Skvortsov
Eugene Spector (American)
Laurent Vinatier
Robert Romanov Woodland (American)

Stay strong, and stay hopeful. You are not forgotten.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
10/19/25