Ukraine: Zelensky regime menaces Kononovich brothers

Demonstrations took place in European cities on March 20 in support of Mikhail and Alexander Kononovich, twin brothers and Ukrainian communists who were leaders of the communist youth organization before their arrest in 2022. (kononovich.org/en/)

The brothers had announced in a post on X on March 16 that their electronic ankle monitors,  which were attached when they were released from prison to allow the authorities to control their movements, had been removed at the police station without a court order. While this sounds at first like a benefit, the unofficial removal of their monitors also puts the brothers at increased risk.

Their next court date is scheduled for March 25. They are not assigned to any government agency, which means no agency can be held responsible should “a tragedy” occur.

The brothers wrote: “We think we’ll disappear somewhere in the recruitment office, or be murdered at a training ground. Dear comrades, please be vigilant during these tense days! We have information that the Zelensky regime is preparing another charge under Article 111 (treason, life imprisonment) against us; they could put us in prison. Anything could happen; the Zelensky regime will resort to anything, even murder.”

The two brothers were last arrested in 2025 for “conscientious objection” to participation in the war against Russia, which is also against the eastern regions of Ukraine that first seceded from Ukraine by popular referendum and later chose to join with Russia. 

In March 2022, they had first been arrested by the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) and subsequently charged with “acts aimed at seizing state power” as well as the dissemination of “materials calling for the violent overthrow of the government.” 

This first arrest led to demonstrations outside Ukrainian embassies across Europe, mostly organized by pro-communist groups. The brothers were transferred from prison to house arrest. The two brothers are members of the Anti-Fascist Committee of Ukraine (AKFU), which was closely aligned with the Kiev-led Communist Party of Ukraine (KPU), which was banned by the repressive Kiev regime in 2015. 

Mikhail Kononovich was also general secretary of the KPU’s youth organization, known as the Komsomol (the all-Soviet Communist Youth League). The Kiev regime banned both the KPU and Komsomol in 2015 and finally broke them up physically in 2022 with the pretext that they opposed Ukraine’s war against Russia.

See earlier Workers World coverage (workers.org/2025/02/)