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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Sami Quadri

Cambridge-educated Russian opposition activist detained Vladimir Kara-Murza detained in Moscow

Russian activist Vladimir Kara-Murza

(Picture: AFP via Getty Images)

A prominent Russian opposition activist has been detained in Moscow, according to reports.

Vladimir Kara-Murza, 40, was arrested on Monday and could face up to 15 days in prison on charges of disobeying police orders, his lawyer Vadim Prokhorov said.

Mr Kara-Murza is a well-known activist who was twice hospitalised with poisoning symptons in 2015 and 2017.

He claims he nearly died from kidney failure in the first incident.

He suspects he was poisoned but no cause has been determined.

He was taken to a hospital with a sudden, similar illness in 2017 and put into a medically induced coma. His wife said doctors confirmed he was poisoned.

Mr Kara-Murza, who was educated at Cambridge University, has been an outspoken critic of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

He is a journalist and associate of former Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsoz, who was shot and killed in 2015.

Hours before his detainment, he appeared on CNN where he described the Kremlin as a “regime of murderers”.

Kara-Murza said: “I have absolutely no doubt that the Putin regime will end over this war in Ukraine, doesn’t mean it’s gonna happen tomorrow.

“The two main questions are time and price and by price, I do not mean monetary – I mean the price of human blood and human lives and it has already been horrendous, but the Putin regime will end over this and there will be a democratic Russia after Putin.”

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