Kremlin Critic Jailed For 25 Years

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Facts

  • Vladimir Kara-Murza, a prominent Kremlin critic who has previously survived two suspected poisoning attempts, was on Monday sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment after publicly condemning Moscow's war in Ukraine. He was detained last year and charged with treason, spreading fake news about the Russian army, and facilitating activities of an undesirable organization before being found guilty at a trial that concluded last week.1
  • In his final statements to the court, Kara-Murza remained defiant and stood by his criticisms of the Kremlin, saying: 'I subscribe to every word that I have said. Not only do I not repent any of this, I am proud of it.'2
  • Following the sentencing, the UK government announced that it had summoned the Russian ambassador over the treatment of Kara-Murza — a dual citizen of both Russia and Britain. Echoing statements from human rights organizations, Britain's foreign ministry called on Russia to respect international obligations on protections for freedom of expression and urged Moscow to release the critic.3
  • Elsewhere, though Slovakia announced the delivery of 13 fighter jets to Ukraine on Monday, the eastern European country joined neighbors Poland and Hungary in announcing a temporary ban on the import of Ukrainian grain. Bulgaria is also reportedly mulling a similar move. While Ukrainian grain was supposed to pass through their countries onto other destinations, supply chains have often been obstructed, creating an oversupply that has dramatically decreased prices, thus angering local farmers whose profits have been hit.4
  • Meanwhile, less than a month after Chinese leader Xi Jinping's state visit to Russia, the country's new defense minister Li Shangfu traveled to Moscow over the weekend, where he met with counterpart Sergei Shoigu and Russian Pres. Vladimir Putin. Both Li and Putin described the visit — in which they pledged to further increase military cooperation — as a testament to their country's growing bilateral relations.5
  • In the meantime, as part of a South America tour that will see him visit Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov traveled to Brazil on Monday. It comes as Brazil's Pres. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva returns from a state visit to China where he told reporters the US should 'stop encouraging the war' and that the European Union 'must start talking about peace.' His comments likely ruffled feathers in Washington.6

Sources: 1CNN, 2BBC News, 3Gov.uk, 4Yahoo Finance, 5Al Jazeera and 6Guardian.

Narratives

  • Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by Interfax. As demonstrated by his trial, Vladimir Kara-Murza clearly violated Russian laws by spreading false information both in Russia and abroad — his sentence is justified and is in-line with the crimes he committed.
  • Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by Amnesty International. The prison sentence imposed on Vladimir Kara-Murza is a very troubling demonstration of Russia's growing intolerance of dissent. This is clearly a politically motivated case and is reminiscent of the show trials that occurred under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Russia needs to respect international laws on freedom of expression and unconditionally release Kara-Murza.

Predictions