He was taken to the courtyard where a black bus was parked. When he entered, he saw masked FSB agents in each row, and next to them were other Russian oppositionists, including Ilya Yashin. They were taken to the airport and ordered to board a Russian Tupolev. Only then did they realize that this was a prisoner exchange. The plane flew to Turkey, where they were greeted in a government hall, and the people released by the West flew to Moscow on the same plane.
Kara-Murza joked that by releasing him, Russian law had been violated three times. First, he was released despite not having signed the pardon petition. Second, the Russian constitution does not allow the expulsion of its citizens. “No one asked our opinion, they herded us like cattle into a plane and took us away,” he said. Third, he was forced to cross the border illegally because he had no documents and his Russian passport had long since expired.
Vladimir Kara-Murza is a 42-year-old Russian opposition figure. He was a journalist and human rights activist. He fought against corruption and criticized Vladimir Putin. He calls his release a miracle. “I am free thanks to the concerted efforts of good people,” he said in Prague on Saturday.
Rzeczpospolita is the media partner of the GlobSec2024 forum in Prague.
