Vladimir Kara-Murza is a prominent Russian democracy leader. Twice, he has been poisoned, almost killed. He is a survivor, and someone who forges ahead, despite the dangers. He has now been arrested by the Russian authorities. This was after he appeared on CNN and called Putin’s government a “regime of murderers.” Kara-Murza has stubbornly refused to leave Russia, for permanent exile. He wants to fight for his country, in Russia. To read about his arrest, go here or here.
Kara-Murza was a lieutenant to Boris Nemtsov, the Russian opposition leader. Nemtsov was murdered in February 2015, within sight of the Kremlin. Kara-Murza, with others, has been carrying on the work. John McCain was a great admirer of Kara-Murza’s (and of Nemtsov’s, of course). He asked Kara-Murza to be a pallbearer at his funeral. What Kara-Murza represents is very important, thought McCain.
Over the years, I have had many conversations with Kara-Murza, and you can learn a lot about Russia from him. I wrote about his life and views in a three-part series in 2017 (I, II, and III). I podcasted with him as recently as last January, here.
He said, “By providing the Kremlin and its cronies access to the Western financial system, the West is giving Putin the lifeline that he then uses to attack the West itself. This is the horrible, vicious cycle that we are witnessing.”
We often hear that Putin is a guardian of Christianity and a Russian patriot. Kara-Murza wondered what kind of patriot would steal from his own people. Would rob his country blind. Also, how about the Ten Commandments? “Thou shalt not kill,” for one, and “Thou shalt not steal,” for another?
In Kara-Murza’s view, Russia is not destined to be ruled forever by despots. In our podcast, he quoted a phrase from Reagan: “cultural condescension.” In his Westminster speech (June 1982), Reagan said, “Democracy already flourishes in countries with very different cultures and historical experiences. It would be cultural condescension, or worse, to say that any people prefer dictatorship to democracy.” Kara-Murza said, “I have absolutely no doubt that one day we will have a normal, modern, accountable democratic government in Russia. There’s no reason that our nation is destined to be an outlier in Europe or the world, and to live under the yoke of a dictatorship.”
The likes of Vladimir Kara-Murza are a threat to the stranglehold that Putin and his men have on Russia. That is why Kara-Murza is now under arrest. A case to keep an eye on. Obviously, Vladimir Putin has a lot of support in the West — in quarters of the American media, for one thing. But Vladimir Kara-Murza is not without his supporters as well. They need to be loud right now.