On Friday I read a Facebook post by Vladimir Kara-Murza — a noted Russian-British journalist, author, political activist, and himself a former political prisoner in one of Vladimir Putin’s penal colonies — concerning a letter he received from a current Putin hostage, one Lev Schlossberg.

I had not heard of Schlossberg previously; perhaps his case was not as widely publicized as some of the others. He is a Russian opposition politician, journalist, historian, and human-rights activist who has been targeted by the Putin regime for his outspokenness, earning him the official moniker of “foreign agent” — a serious crime in today’s Russia that bears overtones of the Cold War era.

Already having been sentenced to a lenient 420 hours of community service on the original “foreign agent” charge, he then was further charged and tried in late 2025 on an additional accusation of “discrediting” the Russian military, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison. And then a third count was added, accusing him of spreading “false information” about the Russian military. [The Moscow Times, December 5, 2025.]

I have found no updated information on Schlossberg’s current legal status. But Kara-Murza reports that he is incarcerated in the Pskov Castle Prison, close to the border of Estonia, where he continues to exhibit “an amazing inner light and unchanging human dignity.” [Vladimir Kara-Murza, Facebook, May 8, 2026.]

As cited by Mr. Kara-Murza, Mr Schlossberg’s letter includes the following:

“Yes, the stakes are as high as ever, I can see and understand that. Yes, I in particular and we in general are opposed by people who have atrophic reflex of humanity. They have no frames, no limits, for them there is absolutely nothing impossible, nothing unacceptable. They are capable of anything. But that doesn’t mean that we should just leave our spot. I can see it so.” [Id.] *

* Mr. Schlossberg’s letter was apparently translated into English from the original Russian, which I haven’t seen. But I believe that what is meant by “leave our spot” is to desert one’s place or position — in this case, their political stance. If I am mistaken in my interpretation, my apologies to Messrs. Schlossberg and Kara-Murza.

*. *. *

Today Lev Schlossberg’s name is added to our roster of hostages, along with the thousands of other political prisoners incarcerated in Russia and elsewhere, still awaiting our help.

And once again, here is the list of those known, which is still 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:

Mahmoud Habibi (Afghan-American)
Paul Overby (American, missing since 2018)

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)
Lev Schlossberg
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
5/10/26