Journalist travelled around the Russian Far East and beyond in search of Ukrainian victims of repression

Chernihiv journalist and traveller Oleksandr Voloshchuk has returned home after a 200-day journey in which he hitchhiked over 36 thousand kilometres.

The journey - “People from Chernihiv beyond Lake Baikal” - which Oleksandr Voloshchuk began in summer intending to be away four months lasted half a year. During that time he visited the Russia’s Prymorsky Krai [Maritime Province], the Kurilsk Islands, Mongolia, Altai and the Caucuses.

During his travels, he gathered information about victims of repression from Chernihiv and spoke with members of Ukrainian communities in the Russian Far East. In all, he found the names of almost 5 thousand people from Chernihiv who were imprisoned in the Soviet labour camps. The journalist is planning to publish these with the support of the regional branch of the “Prosvita” [“Enlightenment”] Society.

The travelling journalist recounts how his most vivid experience was visiting Cape “Edge of the World” on the island of Shikotan. He reached there on 3 October last year and brought home from there some water from the Pacific Ocean. “I could only compare my feelings with that of a footballer whose team has won the World Cup and who is holding the trophy in his hands. That was victory!”

During the next 2-3 months he plans to write a book back on his travel diary “Hitchhiking to the Edge of the World”.