In Isolation: Dispatches From Occupied Donbas (Harvard Libra

Description: In this collection of dispatches, Stanislav Aseyev attempts to understand the reasons behind the success of Russian propaganda among the residents of the industrial region of Donbas. For the first time, an inside account shows the toll on real human lives and civic freedoms that citizens continue to suffer in Russia's hybrid war on its territory.

Review: A rare and unsettling insider's account of conditions in the 'Donetsk People's Republic.'...Aseyev examines unrelentingly, piercingly, and scathingly why Ukrainians in the east of the country supported, and continue to support, the separatists and mercenaries and their Kremlin sponsors-in effect, how Putin's misinformation campaign successfully revived the Soviet mindset in the Donbas. -- Julian Evans * Times Literary Supplement *

Author Biography: Stanislav Aseyev is a Donetsk-born Ukrainian writer and journalist. He is the author of a collection of poetry, a play, and a novel. Under the pen name Stanislav Vasin, he published short reports in Ukrainian press about the situation on the ground following the outbreak of Russian-sponsored military hostilities in Donbas. Arrested and unlawfully imprisoned by separatist militia forces for "extremism" and "spying," Aseyev was held captive and subjected to mistreatment and intermittent torture for over two and a half years. In 2021, he was awarded the prestigious Taras Shevchenko National Prize for In Isolation.