As the world has become laser-focused on the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, and the startling geopolitical changes being wrought by the current U.S. administration, I wonder — and worry — whether the people tasked with trying to arrange the release of Vladimir Putin’s political hostages are still doing their jobs.

Such high-level, frequently multi-national negotiations rightly take place behind the scenes, meaning that the public doesn’t hear about them until they become a reality. But there has been only one American — Pennsylvania teacher Marc Fogel — released since the major swap of August 2024; and that was nearly a year and a half ago, on February 11, 2025.

Each week, I pay tribute to the seven known Americans and thousands of others remaining in Putin’s custody, in the hope of reminding them that they have not been forgotten. But is that still true?

Of course, there are humanitarian and advocacy groups around the world working to solve this massive issue. But they do not carry the force of official government representatives; and I wonder whether Donald Trump, or anyone working for him, is putting forth the same level of effort.

One major U.S. interagency task force — the Hostage Recovery Fusion Cell (HRFC) — is comprised of teams from the FBI, the State Department, and the Pentagon. That sounds impressive . . . until you consider that it places the HRFC under the direction of Kash Patel, Marco Rubio, and Pete Hegseth.

Sadly, that is not a roster that inspires a great deal of confidence.

Still, I continue to hope that the work has not been abandoned, and once again present the names of those known to me:

*. *. *

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
Oleg Orlov
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)
Yevgenia Berkovich
Gordon Black (American)
Hayden Davies (British)
Yury Dmitriyev
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
Mikhail Loshchinin
Grigory Melkonyants
Nika NovakSvetlana Petriichuk
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)Karina Tsurkan
Laurent Vinatier
Robert Romanov Woodland (American)

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

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
7/12/26