Dear friends,
Thank you all for your friendship, solidarity, and support over the past year, and to colleagues for an extraordinary level of cooperation and collaboration in what has been an increasingly difficult and consequential time for all of us.
Among the highlights was my partnership with the Ukrainian World Congress – Свiтовий Конґрес Українців earlier this year to raise funds for drones for Ukraine. The Canadian Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian communities came together to raise nearly $15,000 in support of this effort. My sincere thanks to Paul and Andrew for facilitating this campaign that had a real and immediate impact – and to all who generously donated to it.
I am deeply grateful to friends and colleagues in the Belarusian exiled media and the pro-democracy movement for their courage and resilience in continuing to confront the Lukashenka regime. This year’s collaborations were especially meaningful, including the Tallinn world premiere of Allfilm’s documentary by Volia Chajkouskaya, highlighting the lives of Belarusian women affected by Lukashenka’s repression.
I am grateful to Estonian MEPs Urmas Paet, Marina Kaljurand, and Sven Mikser for organizing our roundtable on Russian and Belarusian transnational repression at the European Parliament last spring. I look forward to building on that work with events I’m helping organize in Berlin, Warsaw, and Brussels in the coming year.
The publication of a report and global framework with the Atlantic Council on defending democratic institutions and vulnerable communities from transnational repression was another major milestone. I’m eager to expand this work and help translate research into policy action across allied democracies. (https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/…/authoritarian-reach…/)
During a my final, year-end, trip to Ottawa, I was privileged to stand with the daily anti-war protesters outside the Russian Embassy alongside Russian opposition activists who continue to advocate for Ukraine’s victory and a permanent end to Vladimir Putin’s repressive neo-imperialist regime.
While many of these efforts, along with countless media appearances and articles, continue to attract cyberattacks and harassment from pro-Kremlin proxies, including here in Canada, the fight against authoritarianism will continue into 2026 with renewed determination.
Thank you for standing together, and for refusing to be silent.
With gratitude and resolve,
Marcus
