‘Life goes on without you’: Q&A with Ukrainian journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko
Captured by Russian security services and sentenced on false charges, Ukrainian journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko spent over four years in a Russian prison, enduring torture while trying to maintain his sanity and physical strength. Yesypenko, who covered Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Crimea for the U.S. Congress-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was released in June. He was first detained by Russian authorities…
Russia and Belarus release 2 journalists who had been detained for years
Paris, June 23, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes the release of Ukrainian journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko and Belarusian journalist Ihar Karnei, who had been unjustly detained for years by Russia and Belarus, respectively. Russia freed Yesypenko on June 20 after he served a five-year prison sentence on charges of possessing and transporting explosives, which he denied. Karnei, detained for nearly two…
Russian court in Crimea sentences RFE/RL journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko to 6 years in prison
New York, February 17, 2022 – Russian authorities in Crimea should not contest journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko’s appeal and should release him immediately and cease prosecuting members of the press for their work, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Thursday. On Wednesday, February 16, a court in Simferopol, the capital of Russian-occupied Crimea, convicted Yesypenko, a…
RFE/RL contributor Vladyslav Yesypenko arrested, accused of espionage in Crimea
New York, March 18, 2021 – Russian authorities should immediately release journalist Vladyslav Yesypenko and drop all charges against him, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. On March 10, Federal Security Service officers in Russian-occupied Crimea detained Yesypenko, a freelance journalist, according to news reports and a lawyer hired by his family, Emil Kurbedinov,…