In recent months, the shadow of political repression has stretched across Eastern Europe, drawing the world’s attention to the plight of activists, journalists, and ordinary citizens ensnared in the gears of authoritarian regimes. From Belarus to occupied Crimea, stories of resilience and suffering are surfacing, despite efforts by those in power to silence dissent. The international community is watching, but for those trapped within these systems, the struggle is deeply personal—and urgent.
Take Dmitry Bolkunets, for example. The Belarusian activist and co-founder of the Belarus Democratic Forum has spent over 100 days cycling across European Union member states, arriving in Malta during the week of August 10, 2025. But this isn’t a leisure trip. Bolkunets’ journey is a deliberate attempt to counter the pervasive propaganda that has taken hold in Belarus and Russia. “Some of my followers are unable to visit the EU due to visa issues and resources, and they have some stereotypes,” Bolkunets explained to Lovin Malta. “Belarussian and Russian propaganda show on national TV that people in Europe have no food, electricity or gas. It’s crazy.” He recounted how Russian state TV once claimed that people in the US and EU had resorted to eating rats due to food shortages—a narrative he’s determined to dispel.
For Bolkunets, the trip is about more than just setting the record straight. It’s also a campaign to raise awareness about the estimated 1,300 political prisoners currently held in Belarus, a figure he describes as “the biggest repression per capita since World War II and it’s a human catastrophe.” Every day, Bolkunets and his colleagues work to support those suffering in prison, collecting signatures to urge EU leaders and US President Trump to intervene and help secure the release of more than 400 prisoners.
Bolkunets is critical of the European Union’s current approach to Belarus, particularly the stringent visa requirements that make it nearly impossible for many Belarusians to travel. “I encourage the EU to allow Belarussians to receive a visa without any limitations, because sometimes they have to pay up to $700 in assistance to acquire one,” he said. He warned that the EU’s reluctance to engage meaningfully with ordinary Belarusians—while Russia continues to back President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime with financial and material support—was a strategic error. “The EU is only promising to give us €3 billion once the regime is gone but I believe this is a mistake,” Bolkunets argued, suggesting that Belarus could serve as a critical buffer between Russia and the Baltic states, a region he fears Vladimir Putin might target to create an uninterrupted passage to Kaliningrad.
The broader context of Bolkunets’ activism is a country in the grip of a decades-long authoritarian rule. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, was re-elected in January 2025 for a seventh five-year term. According to Reuters, Lukashenko’s tenure has been marked by systematic crackdowns on civil society, independent media, and any semblance of political opposition. In 2020, following an election widely condemned as fraudulent by the opposition and Western governments, Lukashenko responded to mass protests with force—jailing or exiling all his leading opponents.
On August 9, 2025, the governments of Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement condemning what they described as “ongoing repression and human rights violations” in Belarus. “Thousands have been unjustly detained, subjected to torture, or forced into exile. These actions represent a flagrant breach of Belarus’ international law obligations and are a serious violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms,” the statement read. The three countries urged Belarusian authorities “to end their campaign of repression.”
While several hundred political prisoners have been released since mid-2024—a move analysts interpret as an attempt by Lukashenko to ease his isolation from the West—human rights groups say nearly 1,200 remain behind bars. The international community welcomed the releases but remains deeply concerned about continued arrests and persecution. Lukashenko, for his part, denies the existence of political prisoners in Belarus, a claim that rings hollow to those directly affected by his regime’s policies.
Repression is not confined to Belarus. In the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine, particularly Crimea, a well-oiled judicial apparatus is being used to silence dissent and punish perceived enemies of the state. According to Suspilne, Russian courts in Crimea systematically hear political cases against Ukrainians from occupied regions such as Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Donetsk. The so-called “judicial conveyor” of Crimea has become notorious for its efficiency in processing large volumes of politically motivated cases.
Consider the case of Leonid Malik, a Chernobyl worker from Donetsk region. Detained in May 2024 in Berdyansk, Malik was charged with treason and now faces a trial in Crimea that could result in a 20-year sentence. His daughter recounted the ordeal: “We know that he is now already in Donetsk. And other political prisoners, they were also in Donetsk. And after this there was the final trial in Simferopol. And, most likely, the next trial from Donetsk will send him to the final trial.”
Other cases abound. Journalist Serhiy Tsyhipu from Nova Kakhovka was sentenced by the occupation Supreme Court of Crimea to 13 years in a penal colony for alleged espionage—a charge widely seen as retribution for his pro-Ukrainian stance. Crimean Tatar Appaz Kurtamet, just 23 years old, was detained and sentenced to seven years for allegedly financing terrorism after lending 500 hryvnias to a serviceman. For three months, his family had no idea where he was. “Only after three months did the young man have the opportunity to call his mother and tell her that he was, so to speak, in a detention center in the occupied Simferopol,” said Zarema Bariyeva of the Crimean Tatar Resource Center.
Rustem Guguryk and Mykola Petrovsky, both from Kherson region, received sentences of eight and a half and sixteen years, respectively, for alleged participation in battalions or volunteer activities. These stories are not isolated incidents. Ihor Kotelyanets, head of the association of relatives of political prisoners, told Suspilne that the Russians have “established a system specifically for politically motivated legal proceedings, adapted to pressure and control by security forces.” Over a decade of occupation, Crimea has built a judiciary capable of handling—and fabricating—political cases on a massive scale.
Human rights defenders warn that the unstable security situation in southern Ukraine is prompting Russian authorities to intensify repressive actions. Olga Skripnik noted that FSB units operate in newly occupied territories, fabricating cases and detaining people in secrecy. Ultimately, Ukrainians from these regions are transferred to Crimea for trials and, if convicted, sent to distant colonies thousands of kilometers from their homeland.
The international diplomatic landscape is also in flux. On August 10, 2025, Roger Carstens, the special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, rushed across Tel Aviv to meet Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. According to Dow Jones, Carstens had twice been denied permission by the Biden administration to meet Abramovich, whom he considers a “back channel wizard” with the influence to resolve complex diplomatic crises. The meeting underscores the lengths to which some officials are willing to go to navigate the tangled web of international hostilities and hostage negotiations.
As the world watches, the stories of Bolkunets, Malik, Tsyhipu, Kurtamet, and countless others remind us that the fight for freedom and justice in Eastern Europe is far from over. Their resilience, in the face of relentless repression, continues to inspire and challenge the conscience of the international community.