Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Kremlin critic who survived two poisoning attempts and a prison term in Russia, [...] calls for the release of all prisoners of war and abducted Ukrainian children in any peace deal.
"I just want those who are once again ready to shake Putin’s hand to remember: every time they do, they shake a hand drenched in blood,” Kara-Murza tells SWI swissinfo on the sidelines of the 17th Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy, which he attended with his wife in February.
The Russian activist was freed in August 2024 as part of a major prisoner swap between Russia and the West. A fierce critic of the Putin’s war on Ukraine, he spent over two years in prison – of which one year in solitary confinement – in the Siberian city of Omsk, over 2,700 kilometres from Moscow.
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Kara-Murza now lives in the United States, reunited with his family. He worries that US President Donald Trump’s efforts to directly engage Putin – a break with past US and current EU policy – will backfire.
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Over the past 25 years “the West has engaged with Putin despite him shutting down independent media, suppressing protests,” he points out, arguing that it would be foolish to expect a different result now.
“All this time, Western leaders rolled out the red carpet, shook his hand, looked into his eyes, and claimed to ‘see his soul’,” he adds, referring to US President George W. Bush’s famous 2001 remark.
Since then, Putin has invaded Georgia, annexed Crimea and launched a full-scale war against Ukraine. Demonstrations in Russia have been met with brutal force. Putin’s opponents have been poisoned or killed.
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"Any agreement must contain a clause on the release of all Russian political prisoners,” he stresses, noting that the fastest-growing category among Russian political prisoners are those who have spoken out against the war in Ukraine, as he did. “Today, there are 1,497 political prisoners in Russia – more than in the Soviet Union during the 1980s,” he points out.
Likewise, he calls for the release of Ukrainian civilians captured by Russia. He notes that thousands of people are now being held in penitentiary institutions across Russia External linkor in the occupied territories. And he advocates for the repatriation of thousands of Ukrainian children, who were forcibly transferred to Russia or Russian-occupied territories in what the United Nations considers a war crime.
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