For the past 100 weeks — just four weeks shy of two years — I have been reporting on the fates of journalists and others being arrested and imprisoned by Vladimir Putin and some of his allies for having done nothing more than speaking or writing in opposition to his war in Ukraine, or simply for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

But there are many ways of being held hostage other than being physically confined to a prison cell. And that is what is happening to the people of Europe — and specifically the members of NATO and/or the European Union (EU) — as Putin’s hybrid war threatens to spill over into neighboring countries.

Borders have been closed, travel disrupted, trade agreements cancelled. And everywhere — from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, and from the Atlantic to Eastern Europe — defenses are being ramped up against the possibility of a future Russian incursion.

The people of Europe are once again living in fear of the behemoth on the far side of the “Iron Curtain.” And in that sense, they are indeed being held hostage to the whims of one cruel, narcissistic dictator. So this week, we add the entirety of the European Continent to our list of Putin’s hostages, along with those who have already been on it for much too long:

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Europeans Under Threat:

The people of NATO and EU member states

Prisoners of War:

The 19,500 Kidnapped Ukrainian Children
The People of Ukraine

Immigrant Detainees in Russia:

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

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
Andrzej Poczobut
Marfa Rabkova
Valiantsin Stafanovic
Yuras Zyankovich

In Georgia:

Mzia Amaglobeli

In China:

Chenyue Mao (American)

In Russia:

The “Crimea 8”:
— Oleg Antipov
— Artyom Azatyan
— Georgy Azatyan
— Aleksandr Bylin
— Roman Solomko
— Artur Terchanyan
— Dmitry Tyazhelykh
— Vladimir Zloba

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
Leonid Pshenychnov (in Russian-occupied Crimea)
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)

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You will not be forgotten.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
12/7/25