The opposition activist Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was released from Russian captivity on Thursday, said he wants to fight for sanctions against the “murderous regime of Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin,” – just as he did before his imprisonment.
He told journalists in Bonn on Friday that targeted punitive measures against individual members of the Russian power apparatus would be the most effective. Many Western sanctions imposed in the wake of Russia’s war against Ukraine were also affecting ordinary people today, which he said was unfair.
Kara-Murza once again held Putin personally responsible for the death of Kremlin opponent Alexei Navalny in a prison camp in the Arctic region in February. But had German resistance to releasing convicted Russian murderer Vadim Krasikov been overcome earlier, Navalny’s life could have possibly been saved.
Putin critic Ilya Yashin also announced that he would continue his political fight for a free Russia from exile. He called on the West to campaign for the release of other opponents of Russia’s war against Ukraine, who are now in prison in Russia.
More than 1,000 people are in prison camps because they are against the war, he said. However, the political prisoners would only have a chance for freedom if Putin’s criminal war against Ukraine, which is also destructive for Russia, finally came to an end, said Yashin.
