‘Whatever happens, Vladimir Putin must not be allowed to win the war in Ukraine’. For the first time since being released from a Russian prison in August, the politician Vladimir Kara-Murza arrived in London this week for a series of high-profile meetings to discuss Russia’s future.
Kara-Murza, who holds both Russian and British citizenship, was sentenced for 25 years in Russia’s penal system last year for speaking out against the war in Ukraine. He was set free alongside the journalist Evan Gershkovich and US marine Paul Whelan last month in the largest prisoner swap held between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War.
‘We have no right to miss the next opportunity for change in Russia’
Considered one of leaders of Russia’s opposition movement, Kara-Murza suffers from the neurological condition polyneuropathy as a result of two poisoning attempts sanctioned by the Kremlin. He thought he would die in prison.
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