- Kara-Mursa wants to fight for sanctions against "Putin's regime"
Vladimir Kara-Murza, released from Russian captivity, continues to advocate for sanctions against the "murderous regime of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin" as he did before his imprisonment. Targeted penalties against individual members of the power apparatus are the most effective, he said to journalists in Bonn. Many of the sanctions imposed due to Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine also affect ordinary people today. "That's not fair."
Kara-Murza again held Putin personally responsible for the death of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny in a Arctic labor camp in February. At the same time, he said that overcoming previous resistance in Germany to the extradition of the "Tiergarten murderer" Vadim Krasikov might have saved Navalny's life. "It's possible that Alexei would still be alive and free today," he said. He appealed to German politics not to forget that 16 lives were saved in return for Kraskikov's handover to Putin in the debate about his extradition.
Yashin: More than 1000 war opponents in detention
Putin critic Ilya Yashin also announced that he would continue his political struggle for a free Russia from exile. He called on the West to advocate for the release of other opponents of Russia's war of aggression who are currently in detention in Russia.
More than 1000 people are in labor camps because they are against the war, Yashin stressed. They need a general amnesty, he said. However, political prisoners would only have a chance at freedom if Putin's criminal and destructive war of aggression against Ukraine finally stopped, Yashin said.
Kremlin opponents: Regime can quickly collapse
Kara-Murza, who is a historian himself, said that Russian history shows that a ruling system in Russia can collapse within a few days - as in the times of the tsars and at the end of the Soviet Union. That gives hope for change, that Russia, where a "regime of murderers" is currently in power, will become a normal and civilized country. Europe cannot live in peace, security, and stability if the largest country on the continent is not free and modern.
Kara-Murza and Yashin were among the more than 20 prisoners who were released in a unprecedented prisoner exchange between Russia and the USA, Germany, and other Western states on Thursday.
In his exile, Putin critic Ilya Yashin also expressed his intention to advocate for a free Russia from Bonn, appealing to international communities to support the release of war opponents currently detained in Russian labor camps. The historical scholar Kara-Murza, also released during the prisoner exchange, reiterated his belief that a ruling system in Russia can collapse swiftly, as witnessed during the times of the tsars and at the end of the Soviet Union, offering hope for a future where Russia becomes a normal and civilized nation.
