Who is Vladimir Kara-Murza? What we know about Russian-born dissident released in swap

One of Russia's most outspoken critics was among the 16 prisoners the Kremlin released as part of one of the most significant East-West prisoner exchanges since the Cold War.

Russian-born Vladimir Kara-Murza, a journalist and contributing columnist to the Washington Post, had been imprisoned since 2022 on charges of treason. The 42-year-old dissident had been sentenced last year to a 25 year prison term before Russia agreed to release him and others in exchange for the return of eight individuals held in the U.S., Germany, Norway, Slovenia and Poland.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan and Alsu Kurmasheva, a Russian-American journalist, were also released from Russian custody Thursday as part of the swap. The exchange follows months of secretive negotiations and marks a rare moment of cooperation between Russia and its geopolitical adversaries in the West after more than two years of Russia's war in Ukraine.

“Their brutal ordeal is over, and they are free,” U.S. President Joe Biden said from the White House.

Prisoner swap:Beyond Paul Whelan, who else was released in the US-Russia prisoner exchange

Here's what we know about Kara-Murza:

Who is Vladimir Kara-Murza?

Born in Moscow, Kara-Murza has also had British citizenship since his mother married a man from England when he was a teenager.

The journalist and Post contributor has long been an outspoken critic and dissident in Russia, repeatedly condemning Russia's war in Ukraine, calling for sanctions against Moscow and accusing Russia President Vladimir Putin of running a murderous dictatorship, according to Reuters.

In May, Kara-Murza was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for commentary "for passionate columns written under great personal risk from his prison cell, warning of the consequences of dissent in Vladimir Putin's Russia and insisting on a democratic future for his country."

When was Murza arrested?

Kara-Murza was arrested in 2022 two months after Russia invaded Ukraine. when the Kremlin accused him of spreading false information about the armed forces.

The father of three was later charged with treason over speeches he had made about the war, including one to the Arizona House of Representatives in March 2022 in which he said Putin was bombing Ukrainian homes, hospitals and schools, according to Reuters.

In April 2023, he was sentenced to 25 years behind bars, a ruling Russian's Supreme Court upheld in May after Kara-Murza filed an appeal in which he said he was being punished solely for exercising his right to speak out freely against Putin, Reuters reported.

Since his arrest and conviction, Kara-Murza has been in solitary confinement in a maximum-security prison in Siberia. He also suffers from a nerve disorder after surviving two attempts to poison him, according to Reuters.

In his most recent column in June, titled "I am not a foreign agent," Kara-Murza described his time in captivity and his anticipation of another criminal trial this fall. He wrote that he faces more charges on top of the 25-year term.

"It appears the Russian state is not done with me yet,” he wrote.

Contributing: Michael Collins, Francesca Chambers, Joey Garrison, Kim Hjelmgaard and Kinsey Crowley, USA TODAY; Reuters

Eric Lagatta covers breaking and trending news for USA TODAY. Reach him at [email protected]