The Transatlantic – Details, episodes & analysis

In the years since it launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has subjected thousands of Ukrainian civilians to tortuous treatment in prison camps across the occupied territories. In this season premiere of the U.S. Helsinki Commission's podcast "The Transatlantic" Russian human rights activist Evgenia Chirikova discusses her experience searching for answers about what happens to those Ukrainians trapped in this system of terror and outlines the type of accountability she believes is necessary to bring the perpetrators of this abuse to justice.

Watch Evgenia's two-part documentary investigation here:

Prisoners. Part 1: Fates (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHldWCVigHM)

Prisoners. Part 2: The System of Terror (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K9Vy2AWGAg&t=2166s)

Evgeniya Chirikova is a Russian environmental activist who rose to prominence leading a movement opposing the building of a motorway through Khimki forest near Moscow. She also played a prominent role in the 2011–2012 Russian protests following disputed parliamentary elections in Russia. She is currently based in Estonia.

Evgeniya is the co-founder of the organization Support Net, which supports civil activism in Russia, helps Russian activists who face repression, and supports Ukrainian war refugees. Since 2024, she has investigated Russia's systems of terror in the occupied territory of Ukraine and cases of Ukrainian civilian prisoners. On July 1, 2025, she premiered her film, "System of Terror" in the European Parliament.

For her active support of Ukraine in resisting the Russian occupation, she has faced five criminal cases in Russia on charges of "terrorism," has been arrested in absentia in Russia twice, was included on Russia's list of "terrorists and extremists," and was recognized by the Russian Federation as a "foreign agent."

She has also served as a project coordinator, investigator, and journalist at the Open Estonia Foundation, and written articles for the Washington Post, La Tribune, de Volkskrant, the Atlantic Council, Postimees, and Activatica. Among other awards, she is a recipient of the James Lawson Award, Goldman Environmental Prize, and the Woman of Courage Award, presented to her by then-Vice President Joe Biden. She is a graduate of the Russian Academy of Economy and State Service and Moscow State Aeronautical University.

This podcast is hosted by Bakhti Nishanov and produced by Alanna Novetsky, in conjunction with the Senate Recording Studio.

The Helsinki Commission's podcast is back!

We are excited to be launching The Transaltantic, a podcast bringing you human stories across oceans, political divides, and intellectual traditions. Join our host Bakhti Nishanov as he talks to people behind the debates and developments shaping the struggle for freedom and security in the United States, Europe, Central Asia, and around the world. 

The work of the Helsinki Commission aligns closely with that of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the world's largest regional security organization. The United States supports the work of the OSCE through not only the Helsinki Commission, but also through funding—generally contribution between 11 and 14 percent of the OSCE's operating costs—and through the deployment of individuals who carry out the activities of the OSCE across its vast geographic expanse, who do the day-to-day work of trying to make the principles on which the OSCE is based into a reality on the ground.

In this episode, Kavya Rajan, Director of Human Rights and Communities at the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, and Kelsey Harris-Smith, Political-Military Officer in the Conflict Prevention and Resolution Program at the OSCE Mission to Moldova, describe how the work they and other Americans—as well as staff from other OSCE participating States—do contributes to a sustainable, enduring, democratic peace in the OSCE region.

The creation of the Moscow Helsinki Group was announced on May 12, 1976, a day that Helsinki Commission Chair Sen. Ben Cardin has called, "One of the major events in the struggle for human rights around the globe."

The 11 founding members, including legends of the human rights movement like Yuri Orlov and Lyudmila Alexeyeva, came together as what was formally named the Public Group to Assist in the Implementation of the Helsinki Final Act in the USSR. Their mission was to monitor the Soviet government's implementation of the human rights provisions of the historic 1975 Helsinki Accords.

In this episode, Dmitri Makarov, co-chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group, and historian Sarah B. Snyder discuss the history and impact of the Helsinki monitors, as well as the important work the Moscow Helsinki Group continues to do today.

The upcoming Tokyo Olympics, slated to take place late July after a one-year postponement, will be the first international athletic event since the passage of the Rodchenkov Anti-Doping Act (RADA) in December 2020, which established criminal penalties on individuals involved in doping fraud conspiracies affecting major international competition. The law, named after Russian doping whistleblower Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov, empowers the U.S. Department of Justice for the first time to investigate and prosecute these rogue agents who engage in doping fraud, provide restitution to victims, and protect whistleblowers from retaliation.

In his first public interview since RADA became law, Dr. Rodchenkov speaks about the impact of the legislation that bears his name, as well as the blatant corruption that exists in the world of international sport, the vital role of whistleblowers, and more. He is joined by Helsinki Commission policy advisor Paul Massaro, who sheds light on the game-changing new tools created by the legislation and its importance to the U.S. fight against corruption worldwide.

President Alexander Lukashenko has been in power in Belarus since 1994. In the run-up to elections in the summer of 2020, the Lukashenko regime sought to eliminate political competition to  through disqualification, intimidation, and imprisonment.  

Election Day proper featured widespread allegations of fraud.  Many countries, including the United States, rejected the election's outcome as illegitimate and refused to recognize Lukashenko as the legitimate leader of Belarus.  The months since the election have seen an unrelenting crackdown by Belarusian authorities on peaceful protests, civil society, and the media.

As a participating State in the OSCE, Belarus is party to a number of commitments on human rights and fundamental freedoms, such as the right to free and fair elections and the right to peaceful assembly.  In response to the apparent violation of these rights, 17 other OSCE states invoked one of the key human rights tools at their disposal: the Moscow Mechanism, a procedure that allows for the establishment of a short-term fact-finding mission tasked with producing a report on a specific human rights concern and recommendations on how to resolve it.

In this episode, Professor Wolfgang Benedek, the rapporteur appointed to investigate the crisis in Belarus, discusses his findings that human rights abuses are "massive and systematic, and proven beyond doubt" and his recommendations to address the violations.

Election observation is a core element of the OSCE's efforts to promote human rights, democracy, and the rule of law. Every OSCE participating States—including the United States—pledges to invite foreign observers to observe its elections. The United States plays an active role in OSCE election observation missions, both by providing observers for foreign elections as well as by inviting the OSCE to observe every general and midterm election since 2002.

Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, veteran election observer Orest Deychakiwsky, former director of the OSCE's Office of Democratic Institutions and Human Rights and current OSCE PA member Michael Link, and Deputy Secretary of the State of Connecticut Scott Bates share insights on the origins and value of OSCE election observation, along with the process of election observation from the OSCE and state perspective.

Only July 11, 1995, more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys from the town of Srebrenica in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina were rounded up, gunned down, and buried in mass graves by Bosnian Serb forces, in what was the worst mass killing in Europe since World War II.

The brutality of the genocide at Srebrenica was compounded by the deliberate effort by those responsible to hide their crimes.  The use of mass graves and the subsequent movement of remains of the murdered using heavy machinery meant that the identification of the victims seemed nearly impossible at the time. 

Ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide, Kathryne Bomberger, director general of the International Commission on Missing Persons, discusses how ICMP has helped families of the Srebrenica victims find closure and pursue justice. She also discusses the commission's evolution from dealing with the conflict in the former Yugoslavia to its work worldwide—including in Syria, Colombia, and elsewhere—today.

Reports from nearly every corner of the OSCE region suggest that minority groups and vulnerable populations have been hit especially hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, and sometimes by the policies enacted by governments to address it.

This extended episode of Helsinki on the Hill takes an in-depth look at the pandemic's impact on minority groups and vulnerable populations, and the role of governments in addressing that impact.

Margaret Huang, president and chief executive officer of the Southern Poverty Law Center, and Karen Taylor, chair of the European Network Against Racism, share insight about the reality on the ground for minority communities, including African Americans, who are suffering disproportionately from both the pandemic and systemic discrimination.  

Lamberto Zannier, OSCE High Commissioner on National Minorities, joins the discussion to offer recommendations on meeting the needs of national minorities and marginalized communities in the new world of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Concentrated in post-communist Central and Southern Europe, Roma are the largest ethnic minority in Europe. Roma have historically faced persecution and were the victims of genocide during World War II. In post-communist countries, Roma have suffered disproportionately in the transition to market economies, in part due to endemic racism and discrimination.

Ahead of International Roma Day on April 8, Margareta (Magda) Matache, Director of the Roma Program at Harvard University's François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, joins Helsinki Commission Counsel for International Law Erika Schlager to discuss the state of Roma rights in Europe, as well as resolutions introduced by Helsinki Commission leaders to celebrate Romani American heritage.