Maksym Butkevych on Russian imprisonment: I don't feel like the time was wasted

Journalist and human rights activist Maksym Butkevych does not consider the time spent in Russian prison wasted. He used it for reflection and observation.

He said this while making a speech at the Heorhiy Gongadze Media Award conference, which took place in Kyiv on November 14–16, reports the Award's website.

"I am lucky that despite the total poverty of what surrounds you there, and poverty, besides cruelty, is precisely what it is: the poverty of television, the poverty of mass culture, the poverty of modern pop music they play, the poverty of the language they use to talk to you – I don't mean the Russian language now, I mean the vocabulary – I don't feel like the time was wasted. I know some boys had that feeling, they talked about it it. I don't feel that way. I had time to think, observe, come to some conclusions," Butkevych said.

Maksym Butkevych. Photo by Hromadske Radio

He also stressed that he had spent two and a half years in a different reality, namely a different media reality, which is strikingly different from the Ukrainian one.

"There was a rather long period when I would have absolutely no information from the outside world. It made me realize how vital it is for a person to receive information about what is happening beyond the immediate reach of their touch, sight, and hearing. To what extent does it affect one's state, mood, stability, and susceptibility to manipulation," said Butkevych.

The imprisonment of journalist, soldier Maksym Butkevych

In June 2022, Butkevych was captured by Russian forces near the occupied towns of Zolote and Hirske in the Luhansk region. Russian propaganda reported his capture on June 24, releasing an interrogation video. In September 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defense officially acknowledged his detention.

On March 10, 2023, the Investigative Committee of Russia announced that the "court" of ORDLO had convicted three Ukrainian POWs: Maksym Butkevych (13 years in prison), Viktor Pokhozey (8,5 years in prison), and Vladyslav Shel (18,5 years in prison).

They were found guilty "of abusing the civilian population and using prohibited methods in an armed conflict (Part 1 of Article 356 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation)."

In February 2024, the project "Memorial. Support for Political Prisoners" declared several people political prisoners. The list included Maksym Butkevych, who was sentenced to 13 years in a high-security prison by the Russia-installed court in Luhansk.

Journalist and human rights advocate Maksym Butkevych returned to Ukraine from Russian captivity as part of a prisoner swap on October 18. He is the second Ukrainian journalist to be released from Russian custody in 2024.