Soviet dissident Vasyl Stus—an important Ukrainian poet of the 20th century—never lived to see the fall of the Soviet Union. He died in a prison camp near Perm in 1985.As I read one of Stus’s poems about Siberia, I realized that Gennadiy Afanasyev, a 25-year-old Crimean photographer exiled to the Sytkyvkar penal camp in Russia’s Komi Republic, is enduring the same thing Stus did. Some assert that the camp was part of the Soviet prison system, and photos of the prison that Afanasyev’s lawyer showed me leave no doubt.Memorial, the authoritative Russian human rights organization, declared Afansyev a political prisoner. …read more
Source: Atlantic Council
