"Russia is increasingly waging an illegal war of aggression against Ukraine while continuing its domestic repression, persecuting those who advocate for democracy," EU High Representative Kaja Kallas said.
U.S. Deputy Assistant State Secretary Christopher W. Smith visited Belarus alongside two other U.S. officials in an unannounced meeting on Feb. 12, the New York Times reported, potentially ending Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko's isolation from the West.
Branded a terrorist by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko’s regime for taking part in Ukraine’s fight against Russia, Vasyl Verameichyk was paraded on state-controlled television in late January for a two-part interview titled "Confessions of a Militant." During the so-called interview, Verameichyk spoke of plans for an alleged incursion
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio identified the U.S. citizen as Anastassia Nuhfer, who was detained in early December 2024.
Nearly 1,300 prisoners remain behind bars in Belarus, Viasna Human Rights Center reported.
Photos and a video of Viktar Babaryka were published by blogger Raman Pratasevich on Jan. 8 after the jailed Belarusian opposition leader was held incommunicado since February 2023.
Editor's Note: Stanislav Aseyev is a Ukrainian writer, journalist, veteran, and a survivor of the Izolyatsia prison in Russia-occupied Donetsk, infamous for its torture of prisoners. He was the first Ukrainian journalist to see to the Sednaya prison and death camp in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime
Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko, who has been in power for 30 years, is looking to reelect himself for the seventh time. In the run-up to the January 2025 presidential elections, Lukashenko has pardoned prisoners convicted of extremism, claiming that it was a "humane gesture" toward those who had "gone astray.
Russia will "definitely be prepared to consider" a prisoner exchange, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told NBC News, adding that a potential exchange could mark "a healthy step forward, especially at the beginning of the next (U.S.) administration."
Two of Alexander Lukashenko’s “challengers” in upcoming 2025 presidential elections drop out before race even starts, pledge support for Belarusian dictator. Lukashenko pardons 31 political prisoners as pre-election police raids intensify. Lukashenko allows the family to visit Maria Kalesnikava in jail, ending over 600 days of holding the prominent
Robert Shonov, a former employee of the U.S. consulate in Vladivostok, was detained in 2023 and accused of passing information on Russia’s war in Ukraine to the U.S. He was sentenced to four years and 10 months in prison on Nov. 1.
The memoir, "Patriot," is compiled from the Russian opposition leader's prison diaries and was edited in part by his widow, Yulia Navalnaya. The book will be released in 22 languages, including Russian.
The historic Aug. 1 prisoner swap was a "win for Putin," Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump claimed during an interview with Fox Business on Aug. 2.
The Kremlin was ready to start talks as early as February 2022 after the arrest of American basketball player Brittney Griner, who was jailed for nine years for possession of a vape with hashish oil, Reuters wrote, citing U.S. officials.
Freed U.S. prisoners arrived in D.C. during the late hours of Aug.1, where they were greeted by U.S. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Kremlin's assassin, Vadim Krasikov, has been imprisoned in Germany since 2021 after being given a life sentence for murdering Zelimkhan Khangoshvili.
Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan are being released by Russia in a multi-country prisoner exchange, Bloomberg reported on Aug. 1, citing undisclosed sources.
Russian prison officials said on July 31 that Vladimir Kara-Murza, a jailed Russian journalist and opposition figure, was being moved from the penal colony where he was held to an uncertain destination.
Some Belarusian political prisoners who were being held by Alexander Lukashenko's regime have been released, Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya announced on July 3.
Russian authorities are being accused of systemically depriving Russian political prisoners and government critics of contact with families in order to ensure cooperation and "impose additional suffering on them and their families," an Amnesty International report released on June 26 charged.
A Russian court in Vladivostok has sentenced U.S. Staff Sergeant Gordon Black to three years and nine months in a Russian penal colony on charges of theft and uttering death threats, Russian state-controlled news agency RIA Novosti reported on June 19.
According to the Viasna human rights group, Aliaksandr Kulinich is the sixth political prisoner to die behind bars in Belarus in the last two years.
