Russian authorities on Monday arrested Vladimir Kara-Murza – a prominent Kremlin critic and politician who has written columns for The Washington Post protesting Russia’s war in Ukraine and violations of human rights.
Kara-Murza was arrested outside his home in Moscow, the same day CNN aired an interview in which he predicted that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine would lead to the downfall of President Vladimir Putin’s government.
Kara-Murza is a longtime Putin critic who has survived two poisonings that he said were orchestrated by the Kremlin in retaliation for his comments.
His wife, Evgenia Kara-Murza, confirmed his arrest in a tweet late Monday. “Twice have the Russian authorities tried to kill my husband for advocating for sanctions against thieves and murderers, and now they want to throw him in prison for calling their bloody war a WAR,” she wrote. “I demand my husband’s immediate release.”
Kara-Murza is a longtime colleague of the late Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. He is a former candidate for the Russian parliament and served as deputy leader of a political party, the People’s Freedom Party. He played a key role in the adoption of sanctions against Russian human rights violators in the United States, European Union, Canada and Britain.
This is a breaking story. It will be updated shortly.
