On Thursday, April 9th, Russia’s FSB, successor to the KGB, announced that it had arrested a freelance reporter in the Zabaikalsky Region of Siberia on suspicion of treason. Identified by authorities only as a 65-year-old resident of the regional capital of Chita, he is accused of providing intelligence on critical Russian infrastructure to Ukrainian special services. [The Moscow Times, April 9, 2026.]

Through news outlet Chita.ru, and Telegram channel Siberian Express, the man has since been identified as Aleksandr Andreyev, who had worked as a freelancer for RFE/RL’s Russian Service between 2010 and 2014. He had also worked for a news outlet founded by exiled Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky. [RFE/RL’s Russian Service, April 9, 2026.]

The report from Chita.ru also stated that two other people were detained around the same time, but offered no details.

The FSB specifically accused Andreyev of “transmitting information to the enemy regarding the information resources of a local print publication specializing in covering the progress of the special military operation” [id.] . . . Russia’s name for its war against Ukraine.

Since RFE/RL and numerous other independent news media have been designated as “foreign agents” under newly-augmented Russian law, it has become a convenient excuse for the prosecution of journalists and broadcasters who speak out against the Putin regime, and especially against the war in Ukraine.

If convicted of treason, Andreyev would face a maximum sentence of life in prison. [The Moscow Times, op.cit.]

Today, tragically, he is added to our list of hostages being held by Putin on political grounds.

*. *. *

And of course we continue our watch over the many other political prisoners still incarcerated in Russia and elsewhere. Here again is the list of those known, which sadly is only a fraction of the total:

Prisoners of War:

The 20,000+ 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:

Pavel “Pasha” Talankin
Mikita Losik
Yulia Navalnaya
Countless Journalists and Other Dissidents

Political Prisoners:

In Afghanistan:

Dennis Coyle (American)

In Azerbaijan:

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

In Belarus:

Andrei Chapiuk
Uladzimir Labkovich
Andrzej Poczobut
Marfa Rabkova
Valiantsin Stafanovic
Yuras Zyankovich

In Georgia:

Mzia Amaglobeli

In Russia:

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

James Scott Rhys Anderson (British)
Aleksandr Andreyev
David Barnes (American)
Gordon Black (American)
Hayden Davies (British)
Anastasia Dyudyaeva
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)
Joseph Tater (American, disappeared)
Laurent Vinatier
Robert Romanov Woodland (American)

You have not been, and will not be, forgotten.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
4/12/26