[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 81 (Thursday, May 12, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2487-S2488]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            MORNING BUSINESS

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              ARREST AND DETENTION OF VLADIMIR KARA-MURZA

  Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, 1 month ago, Russian authorities arrested 
Vladimir Kara-Murza, a tireless advocate for a democratic Russia and 
longtime Putin critic, on the street near his apartment in Moscow. 
While he was in detention for a fabricated administrative violation, 
they charged him further with ``spreading deliberately false 
information'' about the armed forces of Russia, which was criminalized 
under a Russian law passed after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He 
is currently in pretrial detention and could face up to 15 years in 
prison if convicted.
  Vladimir is a friend and frequent visitor to the offices of many 
Members of Congress, myself included. His wife and children live in 
Virginia, and he splits his time between the United States and Russia, 
where he was born and raised. Vladimir has a special relationship with 
the Helsinki Commission and a keen interest in using parliamentary 
diplomacy to rally other nations against the Putin regime's 
undemocratic and violent policies, particularly the war in Ukraine.
  Vladimir was instrumental in the development and passage of the 
Magnitsky Act. In fact, a number of colleagues and I recently sent a 
letter to President Biden urging that the administration impose 
Magnitsky Act sanctions on every Russian official and associate 
involved in Vladimir's false arrest and unjust detention.
  That Vladimir continues to return to Russia after multiple 
poisonings, arrests, and other tribulations is a testament to his 
profound courage and dedication to his fellow citizens. He feels that 
he cannot, in good conscience, call on Russians to risk their freedom 
and lives to resist the evils and complacency of Putin's Russia if he 
is comfortably out of harm's way himself.
  Two weeks before his arrest, Vladimir testified at a Helsinki 
Commission hearing on propaganda and censorship in Russia, where he 
warned that speaking out against the war in Ukraine is now grounds for 
prosecution in Russia, yet he refused to be silent.
  Though now deprived of his physical freedom and in grave danger, 
Vladimir's spirit is unbroken; he is unafraid; and he continues to 
believe that Russia will one day become a democratic, European state. 
He sees the Ukraine war as the last desperate gasp of Putinism, the 
beginning of the end.
  In our many meetings over the years, Vladimir has always reminded us 
of the need to remember prisoners of conscience and speak their names. 
As Vladimir now ranks among these hundreds in Russia, and even more 
throughout the rest of the world, we will remember him. I call upon my 
colleagues to do the same; there is hope and power in not being 
forgotten.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the letter to President 
Biden that I referred to a moment ago be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                      May 5, 2022.
     President Joseph R. Biden, Jr.,
     The White House,
     Washington, DC.
       Dear President Biden: We urge you to name and sanction 
     every Russian official and associate involved with the false 
     arrest, detention, and political persecution of Vladimir 
     Kara-Murza. Kara-Murza is a Russian opposition politician who 
     has long stood up against Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. He 
     embodies what Russia might be one day when it is democratic 
     and free. We also urge you to examine whether to sanction 
     those involved in the persecution and imprisonment of other 
     Russian political prisoners.
       Kara-Murza is a Russian patriot who has fought for decades 
     for democracy in Russia and a prosperous future for his 
     country. For this, the regime in Russia has poisoned him 
     twice. On April 11, while in Russia, Kara-Murza called this 
     regime ``a regime of murderers.'' He was then arrested, and 
     now faces trumped up charges that may result in years of 
     unjust imprisonment.
       Kara-Murza was the key Russian activist behind the passage 
     of the Magnitsky Act and its adoption by our allies. The late 
     Senator John McCain called him ``one of the most passionate 
     and effective advocates for the passage of the Magnitsky 
     Act.'' Kara-Murza himself, like his mentor Boris Nemtsov 
     before him, has called the Magnitsky Act the most ``pro-
     Russian law passed in the United States in the history of our 
     countries.'' Nemtsov was murdered in front of the Kremlin.
       The Magnitsky Act is the appropriate tool to sanction those 
     involved in the persecution of Kara-Murza. We ask that you 
     coordinate with our allies to sanction these individuals at 
     the same time. The European Union, the United Kingdom, 
     Canada, and Australia now all have Magnitsky sanctions laws 
     of their own.
       As Russia loses its brutal war of aggression against 
     Ukraine, we must consider what might come next in that 
     country. Kara-Murza offers a vision of a Russia free from 
     imperialist kleptocracy. He has bravely answered the call of 
     many Ukrainians for Russians to take a stand and oppose this 
     bloody

[[Page S2488]]

     and senseless war. He must be immediately freed and allowed 
     to continue his work.
           Sincerely,
         Ben Cardin, Jeanne Shaheen, Roger Wicker, Sheldon 
           Whitehouse, U.S. Senators.
         Steve Cohen, Gerald Connolly, Brian Fitzpatrick, Richard 
           Hudson, Marcy Kaptur, Adam Kinzinger, Peter Meijer, 
           Gwen Moore, Katie Porter, Abigail Spanberger, Joe 
           Wilson, John Curtis, Ruben Gallego, Sheila Jackson Lee, 
           Bill Keating, Tom Malinowski, Mike Levin, Burgess 
           Owens, Maria Elvira Salazar, Marc Veasey, Members of 
           Congress.

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