Indian workers continue to speak out in support of the international campaign for the release of Ukrainian socialist Bogdan Syrotiuk, who was imprisoned in late April by the far-right Zelensky regime in Ukraine on bogus charges of treason.

Twenty-five-year-old Bogdan, who is a leader of the Young Guard of Bolshevik-Leninists (YGBL), a Trotskyist organisation operating in both Ukraine and Russia and other parts of the former USSR, has been falsely accused of aiding the Putin regime. This is despite the obvious fact that Bogdan and the YGBL fight for the unity of Ukrainian and Russian workers against both the Zelensky and Putin bourgeois regimes and in opposition to the US-NATO war against Russia in Ukraine on socialist policies.

On June 13, the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), as part of its global campaign to free Bogdan, held powerful pickets outside Ukrainian embassies or consulates in a number of major cities throughout the world. The ICFI has also issued an open letter detailing his persecution.

Published below are recent statements by workers in India. We urge workers, youth and all defenders of basic democratic rights to sign the online WSWS petition and support the campaign for Bogdan’s freedom.

Sumita Shaw, an assistant teacher of social science, at the G.K Memorial School in Sagauli, Bihar:

I strongly condemn the detention of Bogdan Syrotiuk on false charges of treason by the fascist Zelensky regime. Bogdan should be released because all he has done is the sort of work a socialist journalist is supposed to do.

It seems the government of Ukraine just wants to shut down any element of opposition to the real but disguised background of the Ukraine-Russia war. The banning of the World Socialist Web Site in that country is an integrated part of the intensification of this state repression.

I went through the open letter published by the World Socialist Web Site’s International Editorial Board calling for the immediate release of Bogdan and I totally agree with it.

Akash Dev, a translator from Kolkata:

Bogdan Syrotiuk is a socialist from Ukraine who opposes both the Putin government as well as the fascistic Zelensky regime. When he raised his voice against the imperialist NATO-instigated Ukraine-Russia war, he based this on a socialist program that calls for the unity of the working class in Ukraine, Russia and throughout the former Soviet Union and internationally. Thus, he advocated for workers in both countries to fight against their respective capitalist governments.

It is totally absurd that the Zelensky regime arrested Bogdan, charging him as a supporter of Putin. The reality is he is an opponent of Putin as well as Zelensky.

The Ukrainian government fears the spreading idea of a socialist perspective and a revolt at home by the working class and youth based on that socialist internationalist perspective.

Nowadays every capitalist government around the world suppresses the voices against them in the name of democracy, which these same capitalist regimes keep crushing every day. They bulldoze peoples’ voices and their democratic rights at home, and whip up jingoism to falsely claim that the enemy is outside their state borders. The real enemy is at home, however, and that is the oppressive capitalist ruling class.

These governments are the representatives of the big corporations and finance capital. To deceive people, they pretend to be working for the people while crushing working-class opposition to them. They open government treasuries like flood gates to fund killings and genocide, but when the people demand more allocations for health, education and better living standards the same governments tell them there is no money to do so.

Bogdan, as a socialist, well understood the danger of imperialist war and the role of these governments. The Zelensky regime has put Bogdan behind bars to suppress the idea of the unity of the workers and a socialist perspective. When the democratic rights of people were being snatched away by their governments, Bogdan and his colleagues stood up courageously to defend democratic rights, including freedom of expression.

I join with the thousands of other people who are demanding the immediate release of Comrade Bogdan. I also appeal to all youth, students and workers in India, and around the world, to fight against the increasingly developing, and disastrous, third world war.

Shibu, an IT employee from Bangalore:

The arrest of Ukrainian socialist Bogdan Syrotiuk is a clear expression of the hypocrisy of the Ukrainian regime. Imperialist states around the world are whipping up nationalism to defend their interests. There are strong signs that people all over the world are voicing their opposition to the war as anti-war movements gain momentum.

We know that the WSWS and the ICFI have been fighting for a long time against the warmongering of the imperialist powers. As far as I know, they are the only organisations which keep warning the international working class and youth of the growing dangers of a third world war while providing guidance on how to stop such a global disaster. They clearly and loudly emphasise the fact that this can only be stopped through the development of a socialist international working-class movement.

Comrade Bogdan, in alignment with this powerful program, called for the class solidarity of Russian and Ukrainian workers. He opposed the reactionary national chauvinistic wars being waged by the ruling elites in both Russia and Ukraine.

Bogdan’s arrest is a direct challenge to the anti-war movement and a threat to the international working class, and so I strongly condemn his arrest and support all efforts by the WSWS and the ICFI for his freedom.

Seniban, an IT professional from Chennai:

The arrest of this anti-war activist is definitely the Ukrainian fascist regime’s vengeance against the growing anti-war sentiments among Ukrainian workers.

I strongly condemn the arrest of Bogdan on bogus charges and his frame-up and demand that he be released from prison unconditionally.

Bogdan’s struggle is for the class unity of Ukrainian, Russian and international workers against the imperialist-backed war against Russia in Ukraine as well as against both reactionary governments in Kiev and Moscow.

Venkatesan, a day labourer from Chennai:

I am furious about the frame-up charges and arrest of Comrade Bogdan Syrotiuk. He spoke the truth, emphasising the fact that workers in Ukraine must oppose the reactionary war being waged by the fascistic Zelensky government against Russia on behalf of leading imperialist plunderers, including the US and Europe.

As the WSWS has explained, the US-backed Israeli genocidal war against the Palestinians in Gaza and the US-led imperialist war drive against Russia in Ukraine are two fronts of an imperialist war drive which is now heading towards a catastrophic World War III.

As a socialist, Bogdan understood this dangerous trend, raised his voice against it and clearly revealed the bloody interests of US imperialism which inspired the Ukrainian regime’s war against Russia. Meanwhile, he opposed the Putin regime’s military invasion of Ukraine.

The drive towards a third world war is being generated through the necessity of the imperialist powers to redivide the world among themselves as the global capitalist crisis deepens. Knowing this truth, Bogdan, as a socialist internationalist, fought for the class unity of the working class internationally.

I strongly agree with the WSWS which explains that the release of Comrade Bogdan, the defence of democratic rights and an end to the imperialist war drive can only be achieved through the revolutionary mobilisation of the international working class.

This means that workers in India must forge class solidarity with workers internationally and, as part of that, with the Chinese working class, not only against the Hindu-supremacist and fascistic Modi regime but the entire Indian ruling elite which has rallied solidly behind the US imperialist war drive against China.