Durbin, Shaheen Meet With Vladimir Kara Murza Following Recent Biden Harris Administration Prisoner Swap With Russia

Durbin, Shaheen Meet With Vladimir Kara-Murza Following Recent Biden-Harris Administration Prisoner Swap With Russia

WASHINGTON - U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Co-Chair of the Senate Ukraine Caucus, and Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee (SFRC) and Chair of the Europe and Regional Security Cooperation Subcommittee, met today with Vladimir Kara-Murza who was recently freed from imprisonment in Russia as part of the Biden-Harris Administration prisoner swap in early August. Kara-Murza is a Russian opposition figure who survived two poisoning attempts by the Kremlin and earned a Pulitzer Prize while held captive in Russia for his writings aspiring for a democratic Russia and criticizing Vladimir Putin's disastrous war in Ukraine.

"Vladimir Kara-Murza is a Pulitzer Prize winner, fearless Russian patriot, and a friend. He believes in a better future for Russia-one in which Russians could live in a free and prosperous society and be at peace with their neighbors," said Durbin. "Despite Putin crudely resorting to poison and the gulag to silence his critics, including Vladimir-Vladimir has shown heroic resilience when standing for freedom. I was honored to welcome him back to my Washington office today and again thank the Biden-Harris Administration for their tireless efforts to free Vladimir and bring him home to his family."

"It was an honor to meet with my dear friend Vladimir Kara-Murza and celebrate his safe return home. For more than two years, Vladimir was wrongfully detained in a Russian prison after bravely speaking out against Putin's unprovoked war in Ukraine," said Shaheen. "I salute Vladimir's courage and life-long commitment to democracy, and I thank the Biden-Harris Administration and our global partners for facilitating his safe release. We must keep working together to ensure others who are wrongfully detained in Russia-and around the world-come home, too."

Photos of the meeting are available here.

Durbin and Shaheen released a joint statement when Wall Street Journalist Evan Gershkovich, Paul Whelan, Kara-Murza, and Alsu Kurmasheva, along with others wrongfully detained were freed from imprisonment in Russia on August 1, 2024. Durbin and Shaheen introduced a resolution condemning the Russian government for its arrests of several American citizens and calling for their immediate and unconditioned release, including Mr. Kara-Murza.

Durbin repeatedly called for the immediate release of Kara-Murza, who he has met various times-as well as other political prisoners across the globe. In 2021, Durbin joined a group of bipartisan Senators to introduce the Holding Russia Accountable for Malign Activities Act of 2021, a targeted bill that would impose sanctions on Russian officials complicit in brazen violations of international law. Durbin also cosponsored the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act.

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