Senators call on Blinken to apply rare ‘wrongfully detained’ label to jailed Putin critic

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect who can be considered “wrongfully detained.”

A bipartisan group of senators is calling for Secretary of State Antony Blinken to apply a priority designation of “wrongfully detained” — a label uniquely created for American nationals — to a jailed Russian opposition leader and negotiate for his release.

In a letter sent Tuesday, Democrat and Republican senators are urging the Biden administration to advocate for the release of Russian politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. who was arrested by Russian authorities in April 2022. Kara-Murza was an outspoken critic of Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

The letter was led by Sens. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and James Risch (R-Idaho), the ranking member of the panel, and joined by nine other senators.

The lawmakers’ request is unique in that they are looking to elevate advocacy for Kara-Murza’s release to the highest levels of the American government. The law applies to both American citizens and lawful permanent residents. Kara-Murza’s wife and children are also American citizens. 

“We write to strongly urge you to designate U.S. lawful permanent resident (LPR) Vladimir Kara-Murza as ‘wrongfully or unlawfully detained’ in accordance with the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage Accountability Act,” the senators wrote. 

Congress passed the Robert Levinson Hostage Recovery and Hostage-Taking Accountability Act in 2020, directing the Secretary of State to determine whether an American detained abroad is done unlawfully.

Once a determination is made, government resources can be concentrated on advocating and negotiating for the release of the “wrongfully detained” person. American citizens Brittney Griner and Trevor Reed were freed from imprisonment in Russia in prisoner swaps, after being designated as wrongfully detained by the U.S. government.

Americans Paul Whelan and Evan Gershkovitch, imprisoned in Russia, have also been designated as wrongfully detained but remain in Russian jails.

“By designating Mr. Kara-Murza under the Levinson Act, you will provide him and his family with additional advocacy tools and critical resources. We are dismayed that Mr. Kara-Murza has not yet been designated and we encourage you to make this determination without delay,” the senators continued.

“If he cannot be designated in a timely manner, we request an in-person briefing by January 30 to provide an outline of steps being taken to secure his timely release.”

Alarm over Kara-Murza’s fate comes as the team surrounding Alexei Navalny, the jailed Russian opposition leader and survivor of an alleged Kremlin poisoning, said he has disappeared for nearly a week.

Kara-Murza, a Russian and U.K. citizen, is a prominent democracy and human rights activist who served in the opposition against Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He survived alleged poisonings in 2015 and 2017. After his arrest in April 2022, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison on convictions related to criticism of Russia’s war in Ukraine. The charges included spreading “disinformation” about the Russian army, collaborating with “undesirable” organizations and high treason. Kara-Murza pleaded not guilty. 

“For the ‘crime’ of free speech and expressing his conscience against Russia’s unacceptable actions in Ukraine, Mr. Kara-Murza has been sent to a maximum-security prison in Siberia where he is reportedly being held in solitary confinement,” the senators wrote.

“His health, already damaged by earlier Kremlin-directed poisonings, is rapidly deteriorating and we understand his prison conditions are extremely poor. His wife and children are American citizens who are tirelessly advocating for his freedom.”

Kara-Murza was honored on Tuesday evening in Washington by the National Democratic Institute, and Shaheen spoke in support of his work and called for the U.S. to help secure his release. 

“Following Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir knew that if he did not go back to support the younger generation of Russian activists working to put a spotlight on Putin’s inhumane actions in Ukraine, Russia’s democratic movement could die,” she said. 

“So tonight as we gather here, Vladimir sits in a jail in Omsk, Siberia. And despite the poor living conditions, he knows that his incarceration is in itself an act of defiance. For as long as people like Vladimir are alive to hold Putin and his corrupt allies accountable, hope for a democratic Russia remains alive.”