For almost 3 years now, the Ukrainian puppet fascist regime has been holding the communist brothers Kononovich in captivity. Thanks to massive international support, it was possible to save the Kononovichs’ lives and get them out of prison: they were transferred to house arrest. But they continue to be tortured, fascism does not release them from its clutches, their lives continue to be in danger.
In this article, we will tell you about the struggle of Alexander and Mikhail Kononovich, for which they are persecuted by the Ukrainian regime, as well as about another Ukrainian communist, Georgiy Buyko, who is under attack by the Kyiv junta.
The Kononovich family lived for many years in the Belarusian city of Luninec during the existence of the USSR. In the late Soviet period, the family moved from the BSSR to the USSR – to the city of Lutsk, where twins Mikhail and Alexander were born in 1980. There, in Ukraine, which until 1991 was part of the USSR, the brothers grew up. They went to study in Odessa, both enrolled in the Institute of Land Forces, where they remained to work after graduation.
Unfortunately, after the collapse of the USSR, the new Ukrainian government began to persecute people with communist views and promote those with nationalist and pro-fascist views. When Ukrainian President Yushchenko ordered in 2005 to relocate the Institute of Land Forces from the Russian-speaking Odessa to Lviv to promote nationalism within the Ukrainian army, the brothers resigned from the institute and returned to Lutsk. There, they founded the public organization “Syabry Volyni,” which united ethnic Belarusians.
Brothers Alexander and Mikhail Kononovich have always been staunch communists and actively opposed any manifestations of Nazism and fascism. Therefore, in the early 2010s, they became victims of threats and attacks from neo-Nazis and nationalists from radical organizations. Nationalist gangs regularly detained and beat the Kononovich brothers, vandalized their offices. Fighting against fascism became increasingly dangerous each year, but the brothers did not give up.
In 2011, Alexander and Mikhail Kononovich conducted an action protesting against the “canonization” of Bandera and Shukhevych as “heroes of Ukraine” by Yushchenko’s regime. In 2012, the brothers dropped leaflets from a hang glider over the site of the nationalist festival “Bandershtadt,” providing information about the victims of Bandera’s followers in Volyn. After this action, they were attacked and beaten by a group of neo-Nazis in masks and camouflaged uniforms. By 2012, groups of neo-Nazis were armed, had combat operational squads, and received support for their actions from the Ukrainian authorities and complete impunity from the Ukrainian police.
After the nationalist coup in 2014, fighting against fascism in Ukraine became even more dangerous, but the brothers continued to stand for truth and justice. In 2014, Mikhail headed the Leninist Communist Youth Union of Ukraine, and Alexander became the deputy chairman of the Anti-Fascist Committee of Ukraine. The brothers actively spoke out against the war in Donbas and against Washington’s interference in Ukraine’s affairs, expressing positive views about Ukraine’s Soviet past and calling for peace and friendship with Russia. Meanwhile, the repression intensified.
In the four years following the Maidan of 2014, Alexander was beaten five times, and Michael was attacked six times. Yet, in none of these incidents was anyone from the attackers brought to justice, even though in almost all cases, the assailants did not even hide their faces. It got to the point where the Kononovich brothers were taken away by ambulance after being beaten, while the stormtrooper neo-Nazis gave interviews right next to pools of blood, showing no signs of concealment. Once, Bandera supporters took the brothers to the woods and forcibly tried to make them renounce their communist beliefs, recording the proceedings on camera. However, they could only film two bloody faces, as the Kononovich brothers did not renounce their beliefs. On another occasion, Nazi thugs struck Michael Kononovich in the head with an iron rod. Nevertheless, all criminal cases against the radical stormtroopers were “buried” during the preliminary investigation.
In addition to such extrajudicial reprisals, the Kononovich brothers were also pursued by the official Ukrainian authorities. Due to their anti-fascist activities, the Kononovich were expelled from Lutsk National University, where they were studying for their graduate degrees. For taking humanitarian aid to children in Donbass, Alexander Kononovich faced possible criminal charges under Article 258 (participation in a terrorist organization).
But the communist brothers did not give up. They appealed to the OSCE about the discrimination of Russian-speaking citizens in Ukraine, continued to provide humanitarian aid to the children and elderly in Donbass, spoke the truth about how the “mobilization” of peaceful residents into the Armed Forces of Ukraine actually proceeds (forcibly, in violation of laws), advocated for friendly relations with the Republic of Belarus, and spoke out against the Nazi antics of certain figures in Ukraine and against the aggressive actions of the United States and NATO.
On March 2, 2022, Alexander and Michael Kononovich disappeared. Immediately prior to their disappearance, Bandera adherents declared a hunt for them, first calling for their punishment on social media, and then coming to “talk” to the Kononoviches’ mother (who has health problems and is disabled), interrogating her about how to find her sons.
After the brothers disappeared, even their close relatives could not find out where they were or what had happened to them for almost two months. Later, information from people who had been freed from detention revealed that the SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) had arrested the Kononovich brothers. After their arrest, they were beaten nearly to death for several days, suffering broken ribs and facial injuries. The official arrest was only registered on March 5. Additionally, they were robbed: the brothers’ belongings, as well as bank cards containing $5,000, phones, and watches, including personal ones, were missing.
It later turned out that the criminal case against the Kononovich had been fabricated on February 1, 2022. After their arrest, the SBU charged the Kononovich brothers with violating Article 109 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine: “Actions aimed at the violent change of the constitutional order or the seizure of state power,” and urged them to sign confessions. The brothers refused, stating that they were innocent, had nothing to confess to, and would not sign anything. The SBU then began to “force” them to give confessions. Later in court, Alexander Kononovich recounted that for the first three days after their arrest, they were brutally tortured almost continuously. They suffered broken noses, lost teeth, fractured ribs, and their faces were reduced to a mass of bruises. Since the brothers hadn’t signed anything, they continued to be beaten so severely that they struggled to breathe because of their broken ribs. They were only allowed to see a doctor after a month. The SBU threatened Alexander with the rape of his thirteen-year-old daughter, Ekaterina, in front of him. Later, when the half-dead brothers were finally taken to a pre-trial detention center, they were kept for months either in solitary confinement without hygiene items or warm clothing, or thrown into a cell with repeat offenders and murderers.
When the court hearings began, the case of the Kononovich brothers was not considered substantively. Sometimes there was no convoy to take them to court, at other times the prosecutor was absent, or there were no indictments, etc. As evidence of guilt for “actions aimed at the violent change of the constitutional order or the seizure of state power,” the Kononovich brothers were presented with posts they had written on the social network Facebook during the period of 2019-2021 that lightly criticized the authorities, as well as a dubious “episode” allegedly related to an attempt to seize a building of one of the district administrations in Kyiv. Neither the time nor place of the alleged action was established, nor the circumstances under which it supposedly took place, nor the people (the case mentions about three dozen individuals) with whom the Kononovich brothers “planned” the seizure. The building is equipped with video cameras, but there are no recordings, and the so-called “witness” vaguely remembers the events.
In the Facebook posts from 2019 to 2021 that formed the basis of the accusation, it was stated: “The crimes of the authorities and Ukrainian nationalists in Donbas have no statute of limitations! Criminals must remember the inevitability of punishment”, “The Kyiv regime condemned the elections in Belarus. This is said by Nazis who are waging war against their own people and its history, in a country where opposition members are burned and killed, and where thousands of political prisoners are held in dungeons”, “Every Ukrainian must fight against euro-fascism in our country, each in their own place”, “Return the communists”.
It is evident that these publications do not call for the seizure or overthrow of power, but merely criticize the authorities. However, the right to criticize the authorities is guaranteed by the Constitution of Ukraine. Moreover, in Ukraine, civil courts are guided by the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, which state that the boundaries of permissible criticism of public figures are much broader than those for ordinary citizens. Furthermore, if someone uses inappropriate or indecent language to describe any public figure, the court cannot compel them to retract those words.
The lawyer who was supposed to defend the Kononovych brothers existed only for formality, and no other lawyer was allowed to see the anti-fascists while the investigation was ongoing. The court ignored the facts of the beating of the Kononovych brothers, the robbery of their property, and no medical examination was ordered.
In December 2022, after a series of protests by leftist parties and anti-fascist activists near Ukrainian embassies in European countries in solidarity with the brothers, the Ukrainian authorities were forced to place the Kononovych brothers under house arrest with mandatory electronic bracelet monitoring.
To this day, the brothers are regularly brought to court hearings, but their “case” is not considered substantively, as there is no evidence in the case, and the Kononovych brothers do not admit their guilt. The brothers constantly receive threats of violence, and they are demonstratively under round-the-clock surveillance; their correspondence is read, their calls are tapped, and representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine periodically visit their apartment.
In the same Solomiansky District Court of Kyiv that is judging Alexander and Michael Kononovych, another communist and anti-fascist, Georgiy Vladimirovich Buiко, is also on trial.
Georgiy Vladimirovich Buyko was born in 1947 in Zhytomyr (Ukrainian SSR) and became a staunch communist during his studies at Donetsk State University. In 1967, he joined the ranks of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). After the collapse of the USSR, he did not renounce his communist views; on the contrary, he became more entrenched in them. Since the Communist Party of Ukraine was banned in 1991, he established the Committee for the Restoration of the Communist Party of Ukraine. Georgiy Buyko and his associates succeeded in having the Communist Party of Ukraine rehabilitated in 1993, allowing it to operate legally, and its representatives were able to be elected as deputies to the Ukrainian parliament.
Georgiy Buyko became one of the key figures in the Communist Party of Ukraine (CPU) during the post-Soviet period. He worked as a senior lecturer at Donetsk State University, holds a doctoral degree in history, was elected twice as a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada from the Communist Party of Ukraine, and was an active member of the Union of Journalists of Ukraine and the International Federation of Journalists.
However, as nationalist and neo-Nazi sentiments grew in Ukraine in the years following the collapse of the USSR, Georgiy Vladimirovich Buyko established and headed the “Antifascist Committee of Ukraine” in 2007 to combat the glorification of fascism. In 2011, the “Antifascist Committee of Ukraine,” under his leadership, along with the Communist Party of Ukraine and the Russian Bloc party, organized and participated in protests in Kyiv against nationalism and neo-Nazism.
In 2014-2015, Georgiy Buyko appeared several times on Russian television, sharply criticizing the coup plotters who organized the fascist coup in Ukraine. He also condemned neo-Nazism and, from his home in Ukraine, actively participated in rallies honoring Soviet soldiers who lost their lives for freedom from Hitler’s fascism. Along with his associates, he sought to prevent the demolition of monuments to Soviet liberators.
Since the activities of the Communist Party of Ukraine were only banned by the court in July 2022, the activities of communist Georgiy Buyko were entirely legal. However, even such lawful activity greatly irritated the Ukrainian authorities.
In August 2023, Georgiy Buyko was arrested and charged under an article that provides for imprisonment of 10 to 15 years or life imprisonment with confiscation of property: Article 110, Part 1 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, “Violation of the territorial integrity and inviolability of Ukraine,” and “Public calls for actions aimed at changing the boundaries of the territory or the state border of Ukraine.” In addition, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) accused Buyko of possessing communist and “pro-Russian” publications at his home.
The first court hearing in the case of Georgiy Buyko took place on August 15, 2023, and the proceedings against Buyko have followed a similar pattern to those of the Kononovych brothers: an indictment has not yet been presented in court, and even the prosecutor was unable to explain what specific actions were considered “an encroachment on the territorial integrity of Ukraine.” There is no evidence of “guilt.”
Georgiy Buyko’s only “offense” is his political views and sharp criticism of neo-Nazism and fascism, for which the current anti-people’s regime has decided to imprison the 77-year-old communist.
