On August 5, hundreds of people across various countries took part in a one-day hunger strike in solidarity with Ukrainian political prisoners. According to campaign organizers, 162 people joined the protest within Ukraine itself (92 of whom were in custody) while another 260 participants took part in other countries. The action was prompted by reports of torture, beatings, and harsh detention conditions, particularly at Vinnytsia Penal Colony No. 86.
We consider it fundamentally important to express solidarity with all individuals facing political persecution in Ukraine. The torture of prisoners, extrajudicial violence, persecution for political views, and attempts to coerce individuals into renouncing their convictions are unacceptable, regardless of which state commits them or under whose flag.
That is why international solidarity with political prisoners is all the more important. If public pressure succeeds in halting the beatings of prisoners, securing the delivery of care packages or establishing phone communication, or getting a specific individual out of solitary confinement, then such a campaign serves a truly tangible purpose.
That is precisely why we support not only demands to end the violence against political prisoners in Ukraine but also the repeal of all repressive legislation as such.
We are glad when people defend Ukrainian communists against the Ukrainian state. But a simple question arises: where is that same international mobilization when the Russian state imprisons a Russian communist?
Where are the hundreds of hunger strikers when Russian security forces persecute and torture leftist activists, anti-fascists, socialists, and independent trade union or anti-war activists? Where are the international protests when Russian deserters and political activists spend years scraping together funds for lawyers to avoid being extradited to the very state that intends to put them on trial?
The materials produced by the event’s organizers offer valid criticism of the EU, the US, NATO, Ukrainian nationalism, Western foreign policy, and the capitalist system in general.
Yet the Russian Federation which wages war beyond its internationally recognized borders, seeks political and economic dominance over neighboring countries, employs military force as a tool of foreign policy, suppresses independent labor, leftist, and anti-war movements at home, persecutes deserters and conscientious objectors, and imprisons communists, anarchists, and socialists somehow fails to feature in the organizers’ “anti-imperialist” worldview.
For us, this logic is fundamentally unacceptable. The Post-Soviet Left consistently opposes authoritarianism, militarization, and repression throughout the entire post-Soviet space, and not merely where it suits social-chauvinist forces, whether pro-Western or pro-Russian. In our materials and actions, we simultaneously highlight the plight of Ukrainian and Russian political prisoners, deserters, and labor activists, while advocating for a struggle against both Putin’s capitalism and pro-Western capitalism.
We provide material and informational support to Russian leftist political prisoners, organize solidarity campaigns, disseminate information about repression, and assist individuals facing the threat of extradition.
We do this because we are convinced that solidarity must be universal! We believe that the suppression of trade unions, militarization, exploitation, nationalism, and authoritarian shifts demand an international response, not one defined by taking sides between opposing camps.
For us, repression by the Ukrainian state is not justified by Russian aggression, nor is repression by the Russian state justified by the imperialism of the US and NATO countries.
We grant no state an “anti-imperialist” pass, for internationalism begins where the choice of the “right” prison ends.
We propose that the hunger strikers, as well as all interested individuals and organizations, hold a joint international action in October 2026 calling for the release of political prisoners and the repeal of repressive laws in both Russia and Ukraine!