Volodymyr Hryhorovych Balukh (; born 8 February 1971) is a Ukrainian political activist, businessman and former political prisoner of the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Early life and career

Volodymyr Balukh was born into an ethnically Ukrainian family in the Crimean village of Serebrianka,

Rozdolne raion Rozdolne Raion (, , ) is a district (raion) within the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a territory internationally recognized as part of Ukraine, but since 2014 occupied and incorporated by the Russian Federation as the Republic of Crimea. Despite ...

. He graduated from the Crimean Agrotechnological University in

Simferopol Simferopol ( ), also known as Aqmescit, is the second-largest city on the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, but controlled by Russia. It is considered the cap ...

and worked as a water conservation engineer at the local

collective farm Collective farming and communal farming are various types of "agricultural production in which multiple farmers run their holdings as a joint enterprise". There are two broad types of communal farms: agricultural cooperatives, in which member-o ...

. Balukh owns a large farmstead in his native village, as well as two plots of land that he used for

wheat Wheat is a group of wild and crop domestication, domesticated Poaceae, grasses of the genus ''Triticum'' (). They are Agriculture, cultivated for their cereal grains, which are staple foods around the world. Well-known Taxonomy of wheat, whe ...

cultivation.

Political activism and resistance to the Russian occupation

In 2006 and 2010, Balukh campaigned for the

Verkhovna Rada of Crimea Verkhovna Rada of Crimea or the Supreme Council of Crimea, officially the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, was the Ukrainian legislative body for the Autonomous Republic of Crimea before the annexation of Crimea by Russi ...

as a candidate for the

Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists The Congress of Ukrainian Nationalists () is a far-right political party in Ukraine. It was founded on October 18, 1992, and registered with the Ministry of Justice on January 26, 1993. The party leader from its formation until her death in 2003 wa ...

. Following Russia's unilateral annexation of Crimea and despite the threat of arbitrary arrest and prosecution, he became notorious for openly displaying his hardline pro-Ukrainian stances, as well as for categorically refusing to become a naturalized

Russian citizen Russian citizenship law details the conditions by which a person holds citizenship of Russia. The primary law governing citizenship requirements is the federal law "On Citizenship of the Russian Federation" (, ), which came into force on 1 July ...

. Between 2015 and 2016, Balukh was taken into custody multiple times for refusing to take down the

Ukrainian flag The national flag of Ukraine (, ) consists of equally sized horizontal bands of blue and yellow. The blue and yellow bicolor flag was first seen during the 1848 Spring of Nations in Lemberg (Lviv), the capital of the Kingdom of Galicia and Lo ...

on his property, as well as for displaying a sign in honor of the ' Heavenly Hundred', a term used for the 108 deceased victims of violent government crackdowns during the

Revolution of Dignity The Revolution of Dignity (), also known as the Maidan Revolution or the Ukrainian Revolution, took place in Ukraine in February 2014 at the end of the Euromaidan protests, when deadly clashes between protesters and state forces in the capit ...

Criminal cases, convictions and prisoner exchange

Balukh's home was subject to two raids by the Russian police in 2015 alone, with the latter search resulting in his arrest. Following his first arrest, he was beaten and imprisoned for ten days, and subsequently sentenced to 320 hours of community service for allegedly insulting a police officer and stealing spare parts for a tractor in a neighboring village. On 9 December 2016, Russian law enforcement officers raided Balukh's house again. The hour-long search resulted in Balukh's repeated arrest, after the FSB claimed to have found 90 cartridges and several explosives in his attic. The local Russian-installed court of the Rozdolne district extended his pre-trial detention multiple times. Despite the lack of evidence and the court's refusal to investigate the origin of the confiscated ammunition, Balukh was sentenced to three years and seven months in prison and a 10,000 rouble fine. On 19 March 2018, he entered a

hunger strike A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance where participants fasting, fast as an act of political protest, usually with the objective of achieving a specific goal, such as a policy change. Hunger strikers that do not take fluids are ...

. On 5 June, his prison sentence was extended to five years. Many Crimean human rights organizations criticized the decision, calling Balukh a de facto

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

. On 7 September 2019, he was released from captivity as part of a prisoner exchange between

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and the

Military service

After

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, Balukh and many other exiled Crimean activists joined the ranks of the

Ukrainian Armed Forces The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) are the Military, military forces of Ukraine. All military and security forces, including the Armed Forces, are under the command of the president of Ukraine and subject to oversight by a permanent Verkhovna Rad ...

, including Oleksandr Kolchenko,

Oleh Sentsov Oleh Hennadiiovych SentsovNosorih (Rhino)
labiennale.org ...

Pavlo Kazarin Pavlo Volodymyrovych Kazarin (; born 3 December 1983) is a Ukrainian bilingual journalist, publicist, and philologist-literary critic. Biography His father — Volodymyr Kazarin (born 1952), is a teacher of Russian literature, who moved with ...

, Serhiy Kostynskyi, Oleksandr Liev and Ismail Ramazanov.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balukh, Volodymyr 1971 births Foreign nationals imprisoned in Russia Pro-Ukrainian people of the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine People of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation Ukrainian exiles of the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation Ukrainian hunger strikers Ukrainian torture victims Ukrainian people taken hostage Ukrainian people imprisoned abroad Prisoners and detainees of Russia Political prisoners according to Memorial Ukrainian victims of human rights abuses Ukrainian military personnel of the Russian invasion of Ukraine People from Rozdolne Raion Ukrainian dissidents Living people People from the Crimean Oblast 2015 controversies Torture in the Russo-Ukrainian War People convicted on terrorism charges