the most prominent among them is opposition leader vladimir kara morsa, who strongly criticized putin and publicly denounced the war in ukraine. another russian was sentenced to 2 years in prison because his daughter drew an anti war picture like alyssa, he also tried to flee russia, but he was caught and arrested. a careless joke or critical post is all it takes to get a knock on the door from the secret service, the fs, b, and possibly end up behind bars. the russian parliament has also tightened a law to make it more difficult for young men to avoid being conscripted. it's made it trickier to leave the country like eliezer did. she believes repression in russia will get even worse because the kremlin fears its own citizens rose. this appeal at that, what if all the young women who were against the war had taken to the streets and gone to the kremlin? yet it's clear that people must be intimidated because of this. but it cassandra and that suits the russian regime, berry wall at the moment. it is his credit. emma al, yes, his dream is to become a journalist in another free or russia

it's not just vladimir kara-murza, it's alexei navalny. these people. >> you point out this in your article. thank you for being here, thank you for continuing to raise the alarm on the story. ahead of the group -- the author of freezing order, the really important book, it's a true story of russian money laundering, murder, and surviving vladimir putin's wrath. you may know him as commander zulu from the star trek franchise, and maybe one of the million polio twitter followers that i am. did you know george capay is a bestselling author of a graphic novel memoir. you know i'm not breaking it up, if i bring it up, it means someone try to ban this book. that's, right this week's velshi banned book club theater is nothing more than they call this enemy. it's about the imprisonment of what america's accounts for people of japanese descent. had a recent conversation that went beyond the pages of this incredibly moving book. i will have this discussion with you right after this quick break. after this quic break. break. downy will soften your c

it is the democracy in the country prominent critics of the regime such as vladimir kara musa and alexei navalny have been sentenced to long prison terms others have gone into exile. those speaking against the war and alexei navalny have been sentenced to long prison terms are perceived as enemies of the state spies and traitors onto the point. we ask russia under putin, why is the opposition disappearing? hello and welcome to the point. i'm isha hasan here in berlin. what is going on in russia? on the one hand, support for vladimir putin is on the rise. and on the other hand, any kind of opposition is leading to arrests to understand this. i have three incredible guests with me today, iaa excuse me is a russian journalist. he faces 10 years in prison for allegedly spreading fake news on the killings of civilians in ukraine. ia had co founded medusa, a russian language web news outlet based in la kremer is a historian and author. she is currently a visiting research fellow at the leibniz center for contemporary history in potsdam germany. and van heusen is also a historian. she teaches a

we just at freedom house paid special tribute to vladimir kara—murza, who's an incredibly courageousof the war to basically oppose the invasion and speak out. and now he's facing a 25—year prison sentence based on spurious charges of treason. so the case of evan gershkovich is outrageous, but it's being replicated thousands of times around the country. pretty much anybody who is a serious opponent of putin is either injail or has left the country. well, on that point, you yourself are on russia's latest sanctions list. what does that mean for you, and what's your response? well, first of all, the things that i'm facing are much less serious than the people who are actually inside russia. russia faced us sanctions for their activities, and so they kind of... retaliated by throwing the book at a whole group of people, which included me, but also people at the rand corporation, president barack obama. it was really kind of a weird assemblage of people that they put together. i don't think there's any actual practical impact on any of us, except that we can't go to russia any more. all r

against this, and for me, for example, a sufficiently demonstrative case russian oppositionist vladimir karantenced to 25 years in prison for treason for fakes addressed to the russian army. well, you understand that this is him himself. about this, he characterizes that this is a return to the 30s years, it’s like that, you know, stalinism, without any, in principle, there are some reverends on the side of the world community, people whom we saw on the streets of the russian i understand the big city moscow or not moscow, i don’t know no there is no fundamental importance but they are brainwashed this topic and the cult of victory was not formed alone. well, not one day, not one year. but in this context, i was personally presented with the fact that the immortal regiment will be canceled in russia on may 9 , because the immortal regiment is, in my opinion, a very active and effective social initiative communication, i will explain why it is very difficult to resist criticizing the public display of memory for the fighters against nazism . well, we are absolutely all of us. i think that to

the mother ofjailed kremlin critic vladimir kara—murza has told the bbc his "spirit is unbroken," despitemonth. mr kara—murza, one of president putin�*s most vocal critics, was convicted of a string of alleged crimes, including treason. his mother, elena gordon, who has been allowed to see him since the verdict, says that — fearing for his safety — last year she begged him not to return to russia. she�*s been talking to our russia editor steve rosenberg in moscow. he is brave, obviously. his spirit is unbroken. i am worried about his health. ., _ is unbroken. i am worried about his health. ., , ,, , health. you say his spirit is broken- — health. you say his spirit is broken. his _ health. you say his spirit is broken. his spirit - health. you say his spirit is broken. his spirit is - health. you say his spirit is . broken. his spirit is unbroken. health. you say his spirit is - broken. his spirit is unbroken. he is surprisingly _ broken. his spirit is unbroken. he is surprisingly optimistic. - broken. his spirit is unbroken. he is surprisingly optimistic. he - is surprisingly optimistic.

vladimir kara—murza, he is in possession of two citizenship. one is russian and one is british.t — it is notjust myjudgment. it is judgment by the court. if you are interested in what is being said in russia about events, what is going on, just turn on the television... but there is no free press in russia. i haven't seen any... in fact, otherjournalists have been imprisoned. i haven't seen any other speaker during — that has been arrested or treated differently after this, during this political or after political shows. what about evan gershkovich from the wall streetjournal? what is it about president putin that rather than confronting his critics, he throws them in jail? oh, no, he was arrested because he was a spy, very easily. and it happens. . .. completely denied by his newspaper, his employer. that can be done, that can be done. but if you will talk to your colleague, journalists who have more experienced, they will tell you that it happens very often. what is the end game for russia here? do you want peace? we want peace, but on certain conditions, of course, for us. tw

your close friend vladimir kara-murza. >> he was sentenced to 25 years in jail, which is the longest sentence for any political prisoner in russia. he's not in good shape. he was poisoned twice. they tried to kill him in 2015 in 2017 they used nerve agents on him. he's lost the sensation in his feet. he can no longer feel his left arm. in my opinion, the 25-year sentence is a death sentence. he might not even survive five years, certainly not 25 years. and, so, we've got to do everything possible to get him out of that prison. >> so the kremlin declined today to comment on some new cnn reporting that the biden administration is right now looking for prisoners around the world in any allied country that they could try to come up with some deal to free some people. obviously kara-murza notably was not on that list. this would have been evan gershkovich and paul whelan. do you think putin wants to make a deal? >> putin took gershkovich as a hostage as basically as a trading chip for after brittney griner was swapped for viktor bout, putin got a taste for the value of hostages. so they t

—murza_ gershkovich and vladimir kara—murza in- gershkovich and vladimir kara—murza in russia and the next months from over the next few months from tnie—sneeter- this position. the speaker i went— this position. the speaker i wentltnent— this position. the speaker i wantlthank our- this position. the speaker i want thank our police forces want to thank our police forces wne— want to thank our police forces wne i— want to thank our police forces wne i knew— want to thank our police forces who i know will— want to thank our police forces who i know will be working hard tne— who i know will be working hard across the country— who i know will be working hard across the country this weekend to across the country this weekend te enrnen— across the country this weekend to ewppen tne— across the country this weekend to support the coronation events . net— to support the coronation events . net retice— to support the coronation events . but police numbers- to support the coronation events . but police numbers in- to support the coronation events . but police numbers in the north—east are

that's vladimir kara—murza.s of russia's full scale invasion of ukraine, the so—called special military operation. normality? hardly. then again, perhaps this is the new normal. there seems to be a big push now in russia to recruit more soldiers to fight in ukraine. you see the recruitment ads everywhere. they're on billboards. they're in shop windows. there's one on the door of the barber shop that i go to. meanwhile, moscow is gearing up for victory day, the national holiday that marks the defeat of nazi germany. and as that day approaches, there's definitely a sense of nervousness here. some russian regions have actually cancelled their military parades, citing security concerns, fearing, ithink, possible ukrainian attacks. the parade in moscow on red square will go ahead as planned, but red square itself has been shut off, closed to the public, since the end of april. that's quite unusual and i think reflects the sense of unease here. when i visited a world war two museum in moscow recently, i was reminded o