Spanish
The Russian Interior Ministry has included opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza on its wanted list, who was released on August 1, 2024, in a prisoner swap with five Western countries, including Germany and the United States, local media reported on Monday.
Kara-Murza, 44, in April 2023 had been sentenced to 25 years in prison after being found guilty of spreading false information about the Russian Army, participation in an undesirable organization, and treason.
In that prisoner exchange, Russia released 16 people - eleven of them active Russian opposition figures, two Americans accused of espionage, and two Germans - in exchange for five of its citizens facing espionage charges, two 'hackers,' and an officer of the Russian secret services serving a life sentence in Germany for contract killing.
Kara-Murzá is the second person released in the prisoner exchange of August 2024 - the largest between Russia and the West since the end of the Cold War - who has been declared wanted by the Russian authorities.
The same fate befell opposition leader Ilya Yashin in December of last year, who at the time opined that the measure was possibly adopted to immediately proceed with his arrest if he decided to return to Russia.
