In May 2025, whilst attending the Debates on Europe in Helsinki – an event with which Voxeurop has been a partner since 2022 – I was deeply struck by the speech given by Sergei Lebedev, a Russian writer in exile whom we know well, having invited him to two of our live events.
His essay, on the USSR’s culpability in the colonisation of Central and Eastern Europe, offered us Westerners a fresh perspective on the imperialist drive which, under the guise of seeking to ‘liberate’ neighbouring countries, fuelled the Soviet Union – just as Tsarist Russia did before it and Putin’s Russia does today. I felt that this essay, which brilliantly blended personal reflections with historical and contemporary facts, deserved to reach a wider European audience.
With Sergei’s permission, we therefore edited it, translated it into French, German, Italian and Spanish, and published it on Voxeurop, where you have no doubt read it.
Following our recommendations, it has also been published by other media outlets such as The Guardian (UK), Blätter für deutsche und internationale politik (Germany) and Dennik N (Slovakia).
A year on, I am delighted to announce that this essay has just been shortlisted as one of the five finalists for the prestigious European Press Prize, in the ‘Public Debate’ category.
This is a wonderful recognition – not only for Sergei and his essay, but for everything we stand for at Voxeurop on a daily basis.
This success perfectly embodies our mission: to bring to light powerful stories, which often go unnoticed outside their country of origin, and give them a European reach.
At Voxeurop, we produce and select journalistic ‘gems’ from across Europe. We edit, translate and distribute them to build an open and diverse European public sphere.
Author: Gian-Paolo Accardo is a member of AEJ-France and a co-founder, editorial Director and Editor-in-Chief of VoxEurope Société Coopérative Européenne
