Prominent Russian opposition activist jailed in Moscow

A prominent Russian opposition activist and outspoken critic of the invasion of Ukraine has been sentenced in Moscow to 15 days in jail on charges of disobeying police orders when leaving his home on Monday night, his lawyer said.

Vladimir Kara-Murza, 40, is a veteran Kremlin critic who says he was deliberately poisoned in Moscow in 2015 and 2017 as retaliation for his lobbying efforts to impose US and EU sanctions against Russian officials accused of human rights abuses. A close friend of the opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was shot and killed in 2015, Kara-Murza nearly died from kidney failure in the first incident.

Related: ‘It is not possible to stay quiet’: Putin’s first victim of ‘fake news’ law speaks out

His longtime lawyer, Vadim Prokhorov, said police had accused Kara-Murza of “changing his walking pace and trying to escape” when they approached him outside his house on Monday evening.

It was not immediately clear if Kara-Murza’s arrest was linked to his opposition to Russia’s actions in Ukraine, but it comes amid an unprecedented crackdown on independent media and anti-war dissent. Last month, the Russian parliament passed a law imposing a jail term of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally “fake” news about the military.

Kara-Murza, who studied at Cambridge University, has been a vocal opponent of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, launching an anti-war committee with other leading Russian opposition figures. He has also been one of the few prominent opposition figures still living in Russia, as many have fled the country out of safety concerns after the jailing last year of Alexei Navalny.

Related: ‘Our voices are louder if we stay’: Russian anti-war activists refuse to flee

Aleksandr Podrabinek, a former Soviet dissident who went to the Khamovniki police station on Monday to support Kara-Murza, told the independent news outlet Sota that he believed he had been detained because the authorities were “angered by his courage”.

Hours prior to his detention, Kara-Murza appeared on CNN where he described the Kremlin as a “regime of murderers”.

“I have absolutely no doubt that the Putin regime will end over this war in Ukraine, doesn’t mean it’s gonna happen tomorrow. The two main questions are time and price, and by price, I do not mean monetary – I mean the price of human blood and human lives and it has already been horrendous, but the Putin regime will end over this and there will be a democratic Russia after Putin,” Kara-Murza said.

ButtPlug, 

How can jailing and killing the opposition leaders be compared to routine political bribes? 

If Hunter Biden is guilty, which is looking increasingly likely he is - at least to some of the allegations, he should be taken to court where a Judge can decide on the prison term. 

It seems Jarred Kushner secured a property deal during his time at the Whitehouse, with Trump's pals the Saudis. It looks like a similar setup to Hunter Biden. Or Trump trying to bribe Ukraine to release dirt on Biden etc. 

Putin is a mass murderer, and here you are again trying to justify his actions with "But" "Hunter Biden"... 

"Finally, should you guys, and girl, really be pointing out Putin’s behavior when you’re basically mini-Putin’s yourselves?"

Haha "...justifying his actions" 

No, numpty! I'm placing you in the same category as Putin and saying that the pot should probably not call the kettle black.

You were all calling for Trump to be jailed, and as I gather from your many many posts on the topic, you'd have been happy to see him behind bars. Yet, you never produced any credible evidence to justify your TDS-ridden desire for that to occur. Now doesn't that sound very Putin'esque to you? It does to me...

You're very similar to Putin in how you treat democracy and the law, he just managed to get into a position of power.

One wonders if perhaps you simply envy Putin because he IS able to shit all over democracy and put people he doesn't like in prison while you can only make memes about your "enemies"?

Maybe that's it?

Food for thought, VisKop.

Netso Plum, but they don't realize that they've become what they supposedly hate...birds of a feather...it's OK if they do it...

The Putin worshippers... The haters of the West. You are not Westerners simple, because you are authoritarian people. 

Putin is man enough...to own his own actions. 
If Russia gets into a war with the West, he will be hiding in his bunker threatening to end the world with nukes. 

Not sure what this has to do with Trump, except that Trump has the potential to become a Putin. He tried to cheat in the election, or he did cheat - albeit unsuccessful. 
Many arrests have been made following the pathetic coup at the Capital like Proud Boys, Oath Keepers etc - but the political white collars are still within sight. 

I'm not sure what the header has to do with Trump......hell, I suspect our resident Coke-Head was having a bout of  cold turkey.

It’s amazing how hard it is to conclude the obvious:

1 There is no defending what Putin has done in the Ukraine.

2 There is no defending the media sabotage of the Trump presidency and the Russia hoax.

3 There is no defending the West’s inability to change from a Cold War mentality when Russia capitulated.

If you consider yourself an honest person, it ought to be easy to agree with those three statements. The West had a lot to do with creating a new Russia crisis….but Putin completely over reacted and is the author of countless unnecessary deaths. There are reasons it happened, but nothing that vaguely rises to the level of a justification for that.

I would agree on points 1 and 3 but point 2 is up for debate.

Many people see Trump as a potential Putin, who seemed too friendly with Authoritarian leaders, while destroying relations with other Western Countries. Trump also cheated in a Democratic election, the first US president to ever attempt this. If Trump does appoint himself for life, if he was to win in 2024- I think he would take America down the wrong path.

All three points made by Mozart.

Only a TWAT would deny point #2.

True to form Sharktwat.

Man has this guy got his head up his ass.

Normal position for him I would suggest.

Seems to be similar to the Members of the opposition party in Ukraine that was arrested before the Russian Invasion despite  supporting a motion in the Ukraine Parliament to condemn a potential invasion by Russia.    The Ukraine went further  and banned all opposition parties in Ukraine and  at present  Ukraine  is a one-party dictatorship.    

If that is not enough of a headache - the Parliament of Ukraine passed a law banning Russian teaching in schools and the fining of people speaking Russian in public is endemic.     That despite that  before the civil war in 2014 more than 50% of the inhabitants  were  ethnic Russians. - without  the areas  like the Crimea and  the Donbas area the balance now favors a Ukrainian majority.    In other multilingual democratic countries such a ban and fining is unheard of. and is just worsening an already horrible situation.             

SB

That statement on Trump is a lie - there is a bigger threat to democracy coming from the Democrats and the present corrupt Biden Administration than there ever was from Trump.   Trump never approved of any legislation that was Unconstitutional or  attempted to get such legislation passed in Congress - and the mandate system now commonly used  by Biden has led to numerous mandates be rejected by the Courts with the Administration undermining the constitution by ignoring legal rulings against it.

The story about friendship with dictators  is an outright lie.    The situation is typical - Trump tried to stabilize the world situation and  his negotiations with for instance North Korea stopped their testing of nuclear bombs and intercontinental missiles - which is now back and  the world today is again totally unstable and  dangerous.   Trump did effectively banned the Baltic pipeline and took other effective actions against Russia, China and Iran as well - keeping them in check.    As to Europe being threatened - happy idiots day to you.    Trump acted against them when they were charging duties on  US imports while the US did not do the same iro imports from them and forced them to meet their contractual contributions to NATO - which they neglected for years and the US had to carry the costs.   

The rest of your comments are typically nonsensical - the Democrats and the media  for four years used the  lies they invented about the Russian collusion  and effectively undermined  the Trump Administration through that.  In that period  Clinton never accepted her defeat in 2016 and claimed that her loss was  caused by anything other than her dishonesty.        

The problem is that you believe the fake media that had the threat to democracy drum beaten all the time when it concerns Trump - so name me one case where undermining of the constitution actually took place  and I would name 10 where  Biden  and the Democrats undermined the US Constitution - the undermining of the Constitution by the Russian Hoaxes lies invented by the Democrats will be the first on my list.