PHOENIX — A Russian political activist who was arrested after giving a speech to the Arizona House of Representatives was one of several people released from Russian custody as part of a prisoner exchange Thursday.
Vladimir Kara-Murza had been in a Russian prison since 2022, accused of spreading "false information" about the Russian military.
Part of the evidence against Kara-Murza was video of a speech he gave to the Arizona House of Representatives in March 2022.
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Kara-Murza had been invited to Arizona by the McCain Institute and the Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations. During that speech, he was critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
A month later, Kara-Murza was arrested.
“Well, he's a true patriot," David Merkel, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Russia, Ukraine and the Former Soviet Union said. "I mean, he believes in the future of his country."
Merkel was part of the Committee on Foreign Relations in 2022 when Kara-Murza came to Arizona.
News of Kara-Murza's release started leaking Wednesday afternoon but wasn't confirmed until Thursday morning. That's when Paul Fagan with the McCain Institute knew of the prisoner exchange.
"I get, you know, choked up about it, because he's a true hero like John McCain," Fagan said.
In fact, McCain and Kara-Murza were good friends, sharing a mutual dislike of Vladimir Putin. So much so, that McCain's choice of Kara-Murza as a pallbearer at his funeral in 2018 was widely seen as a final criticism of Putin from the longtime Arizona senator.
“[Kara-Murza's] always been critical of Vladimir Putin," Fagan said. "He's always been critical of the regime, and at the time, he was also critical of Russia's invasion of Ukraine."
Kara-Murza's release was part of a prisoner exchange that involved the release of 24 people including journalist Evan Gershkovich and former Marine Paul Whelan.
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