Oleksii Bessarabov lived in Sevastopol from early childhood and worked as a journalist and analyst. He was a correspondent for the “Glavred” news agency and published articles under the pseudonym Oleksii Streletskyi in professional journals such as “Sudnoplavstvo”, “Chornomorska Bezpeka”, and “Dzerkalo Tyzhnia”. His work focused on maritime security, the defence sector, and geopolitical processes in the Black Sea region.

In 2009, Bessarabov became Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the “Chornomorska Bezpeka” journal and an expert at the “Nomos” Centre for Geopolitical Studies and Euro-Atlantic Cooperation in the Black Sea Region.

In November 2016, Russian special services detained Oleksii Bessarabov along with his colleagues Yevhen Panov and Dmytro Shtyblikov in Sevastopol. They were accused in the so-called sabotage case — a criminal prosecution fabricated by Russia aimed at discrediting Ukraine.

In April 2019, an occupation “court” sentenced Bessarabov to 14 years of imprisonment in a maximum-security penal colony on fabricated charges of “preparation for sabotage as part of an organised group” and “illegal possession of explosives”. His imprisonment became part of a broad campaign to persecute journalists, experts, and civic activists on the occupied peninsula.

Today, Oleksii Bessarabov remains one of dozens of Ukrainian citizens illegally imprisoned by Russia for political reasons. His fate continues to draw the attention of human rights institutions, international organisations, and the journalistic community, who are demanding his release and the overturning of the unlawful verdict.

We continue to work with national and international partners to ensure pressure on Russia, secure the release of all Kremlin captives, and hold the occupation authorities accountable for systemic human rights violations in the temporarily occupied peninsula. Ukraine will not cease its struggle for the release of every one of its citizens.