Jailed Kremlin critic: ‘Don’t believe it’ when people say ‘no one protests against the war in Russia’

Vladimir Kara-Murza, a columnist for The Washington Post and frequent Kremlin critic currently serving a 15-day jail sentence in Russia, said in an op-ed on Friday, “When you are told that no one protests against the war in Russia, don’t believe it.”

Kara-Murza, whose op-ed was provided to the Post through his lawyer, wrote that there are many Russians protesting Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, which has been widely condemned around the world.

“Hundreds of people who took part in such protests are imprisoned in police stations and special detention facilities. The police grab them immediately and take them away. And there are no more media outlets in Russia that can talk about it,” the columnist wrote.

“Even in the Khamovniki police station, where I spent the first day after my detention in a stone box measuring 2-by-3 meters, I met two young women in neighboring cells who had been picked up for writing antiwar graffiti,” he noted.

Earlier this week, Kara-Murza was jailed on the same day that he did an interview with CNN, in which he called the Russian government “autocratic” and a “regime of murders.” Secretary of State Antony Blinken, a former journalist, said the U.S. was “troubled” by his jailing. 

Kara-Murza was charged with disobeying law enforcement and given a 15-day jail sentence, according to the Post.

The columnist claimed that it was understood by others that his detention was for political reasons.

“Everyone who participated in the process, including Judge Diana Mishchenko and the Interior Ministry officers who brought me to the court, understood that the only reason for my arrest was my political and, above all, antiwar position,” he wrote.

“Russia will be free. I’ve never been so sure of it as I am today,” he added.

The development comes as the Kremlin continues to crack down on freedom of speech and independent journalism that appears to counter official Russian assessments of the war.