There is no evidence of any terrorist activities in Crimea, yet Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov and 3 other opponents of annexation are serving huge sentences for supposed terrorism, and the number of such convictions is likely to increase with the trial this week of four Crimean Muslims and an ever-increasing number of new arrests

More evidence has emerged confirming that one of the charges brought by Russia against Ukrainian Maidan activist Andriy Kolomiyets is based on rigged evidence. The charge of ‘attempted murder’ by allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail and inflicting ‘physical pain’ on two Ukrainian Berkut officers in the capital of Ukraine in January 2014 remains too surreal to be either proven or disproven

Russia’s ban on veteran Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemiliev entering his native Crimea, now under Russian occupation, has, as expected, been upheld. Change a word here and there and the justification under the current Russian regime for persecuting Dzhemiliev become almost identical to that used by the Soviet Union for holding him in political labour camps for 15 years.

Russia’s ban on veteran Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemiliev entering his native Crimea, now under Russian occupation, has, as expected, been upheld. Change a word here and there and the justification under the current Russian regime for persecuting Dzhemiliev become almost identical to that used by the Soviet Union for holding him in political labour camps for 15 years.

Former Donetsk resident Nadia Zaslavska spoke to Dmitry Volchek from RFE/RL’s Russian Service about why the conflict in eastern Ukraine drove her from the city even though she had spent many happy years living there.

One day after releasing Nadiya Savchenko, Russia has sentenced two other Ukrainians to virtually identical terms of imprisonment on even more insane charges. The indictment flew in the face of historical fact, and both Mykola Karpyuk and Stanislav Klykh can prove that they were in Ukraine at the time of the alleged crimes in Chechnya

The news that UN anti-torture monitors had been forced to suspend a visit to Ukraine due to obstruction from Ukraine’s SBU [Security Service] has elicited outrage and consternation. The feeble excuses issued only compound the suspicion that the SBU has a lot to hide.

One of the few monuments in Russia devoted to "the victims of political repressions during the 1930s." has a single line noting that fact, then dedicates 12 lines to honoring one particular victim of Stalin’s Terror: Valter Vand, the former head of the local branch of the NKVD

This is the latest of many abductions and disappearance since Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, and is made especially chilling by the FSB’s refusal to allow his family to report Ervin’s disappearance.

This is the latest of many abductions and disappearance since Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, and is made especially chilling by the FSB’s refusal to allow his family to report Ervin’s disappearance.

Nadiya Savchenko’s release is wonderful, but Western attempts to speak of Russia’s implementation of the Minsk Agreement seem at very best optimistic. There is little or no progress on freeing the other Ukrainians unlawfully held in Russia and a large, and increasing number of Ukrainians, most of them Crimean Tatars, imprisoned in Russian-occupied Crimea.

The United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) has suspended its visit to Ukraine after being denied access to places in several parts of the country where it suspects people are being deprived of their liberty by the Security Service of Ukraine, the SBU.

Instead of closing down as promised after a previous scandal, the contentious Myrotvorets website has published a new list, this time ‘exposing’ journalists working in Russia. Those it accuses of ’collaboration’ include UNIAN’s Roman Tsymbalyuk who has for two years running asked extremely hard-hitting questions of Vladimir Putin about Russia’s aggression against Ukraine

Crimean prisoners sentenced under Ukrainian law are having Russian citizenship foisted on them and being illegally ‘retried’ under Russian law. Elvis Asanov, a life prisoner, registered his protest at such attempts on May 11 by slashing his throat directly in the courtroom.

Sergei Gandlevsky was detained on May 23 by police officers at the Lubyanka Metro station in Moscow after he ripped down a portrait of the bloody dictator Joseph Stalin stuck on a wall

Our cry must be heard, so that the horror of the past is not repeated here and now. Our voice must ring out because the world is now silent about the fate of the Crimean Tatars. This was the message on May 18 from Yaakov Dov Bleich, Chief Rabbi of Ukraine

Russia has hidden Crimean political prisoners: renowned filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko; Gennady Afanasyev and Oleksiy Chirniy as far from their families, the media and western diplomats as could be achieved, which in Russia is far. Join Ukrainian civic organizations in proving that it’s not far enough!

The fallout from the senseless deaths of 298 people is not going away. Sooner or later, Vladimir Putin and his cronies will need to answer for their actions.

PLEASE SEND, SHARE & TWEET BIRTHDAY GREETINGS to Crimean Tatar political prisoner Mustafa #Degermendzhy who is turning 27 on May 22. It is his second birthday in custody in Russian-occupied Crimea facing absurd charges linked with a pre-annexation demonstration over which Russia has no jurisdiction. .

PLEASE SEND, SHARE & TWEET BIRTHDAY GREETINGS to Crimean Tatar political prisoner Mustafa #Degermendzhy who is turning 27 on May 22. It is his second birthday in custody in Russian-occupied Crimea facing absurd charges linked with a pre-annexation demonstration over which Russia has no jurisdiction. .