Freed activist feared dying in Russian prison

Vladimir Kara-Murza, Andrei Pivovarov and Ilya Yashin hold a press conference in Bonn, Germany, after being freed in a multi-country prisoner swap on Aug 2, 2024. [Reuters]

American permanent resident Vladimir Kara-Murza told reporters on Friday he had expected to die in a Russian prison.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist, who had been serving a 25-year prison sentence following a 2022 arrest, was freed Thursday in a historic prisoner swap negotiated by the U.S. and its allies with Russia.

Kara-Murza spoke to the media in Bonn, Germany, with two of the seven Russians — Ilya Yashin and Andrei Pivovarov — also freed in the deal.

At the briefing, he detailed the harsh conditions he was subjected to, including 10 months in solitary confinement, and restricted contact with family. He said Russia allowed him only one call to his wife and two with his children in the entire time of his nearly two years in detention.

Kara-Murza said Germany’s decision to release a high-profile assassin — Vadim Krasikov — as part of the exchange “wasn't an easy decision.”

Pivovarov, who headed the opposition group Open Russia, said the historic deal saved the lives of some of those detained. And he drew a sharp distinction between everyday Russians and the authoritarian regime.

"It is wrong to associate Russian people with the government's policies," said Pivovarov, adding that their task was to work to make Russia "free and democratic."

Yashin, a Russian activist jailed for supporting the war in Ukraine, said he had not wanted to be deported in any swap. He said he feared the action could encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to take more “political prisoners.”

"I did not give my consent to being sent outside of Russia," he told reporters in Bonn. "What happened on August 1 is not an exchange. This is my expulsion from Russia against my will. My first wish in Ankara was to buy a ticket and go back to Russia."

Yashin said a Federal Security Service agent told him that if he returned "your days will end like Navalny's." Alexey Navalny died in a remote prison colony before any deal to secure his release could be made.

Yashin on Friday said Putin bears the responsibility for that death.

Kara-Murza was convicted of treason for his speeches against Russia's war in Ukraine, including one made to the Arizona House of Representatives. In 2018 he was a pallbearer at Senator John McCain's funeral alongside U.S. President Joe Biden.

In total, seven Russian political prisoners were freed and removed from Russia in the deal, along with five Germans, three American citizens and green card holder Kara-Murza.

'They stepped up'

President Biden greeted the Americans — journalists Evan Gershkovich and Alsu Kurmasheva and former Marine Paul Wheelan as they arrived at Joint Base Andrews late Thursday.

Speaking with the gathered media, Biden praised the partnership with U.S. allies, saying, “They stepped up, they took a chance for us, and it mattered a lot.”

Those allies — Germany, Poland, Norway and Slovenia helped the U.S. with the never-before-seen multi-country negotiations that played out over months to secure the largest swap with Russia since the Cold War.

“The toughest call in this one was for other countries,” Biden acknowledged late Thursday as the hostages and their families hugged in the background. “I asked them to do some things that were against their immediate self-interest and really very difficult for them to do, particularly Germany and Slovenia.”

Germany’s part in the deal involved handing over to Russia convicted killer Krasikov.

And Slovenia in the last part of a multipart deal had on Wednesday pardoned and expelled two Russian spies.

Slovenian President Natasa Pirc Musar on social media praised her country’s part in the deal.

“Slovenia and its intelligence agencies worked tirelessly and with great sensitivity with our allies and partners in prisoner exchange which successfully concluded yesterday,” she said Friday on X. “I would like to pay respect and compliment everyone involved in this difficult action that saved lives.”

'Many had feared for their health'

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Thursday said he had spoken at length with those freed from Russian prisons who travelled to Germany.

"Many did not expect this to happen now and are still very full of the feelings associated with suddenly being able to be free after all," he told reporters. "Many had feared for their health and even their lives."

Germany held the primary person the Kremlin wanted in the deal.

That convicted killer, Krasikov, and six other Russians were welcomed back by Putin in a scene that mirrored that at Andrews Air Base.

But while the West welcomed home political prisoners journalists, opposition voices and activists taken by Russia, Putin greeted convicted killers and spies.