| Kremlin critic is sentenced |
| Vladimir Kara-Murza, an outspoken critic of the Kremlin, was convicted of treason in Russia. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison — which appears to be the longest sentence yet for any activist in the last year. |
| Kara-Murza, who has Russian and British citizenship, contributes to the opinion section of The Washington Post and had urged the U.S. to impose sanctions on Russian officials. His sentence is longer than those often given for murder in Russia and exceeds the time being served by Aleksei Navalny and others. |
| The verdict is the latest example of the Kremlin’s wartime repression 14 months after the invasion of Ukraine. Even though Russian verdicts are often foregone conclusions, especially for opponents of the Kremlin, the length of the prison term is bracing. It is a reminder that the Kremlin is willing to brand any domestic critics as enemies of the state. |
| Recent context: The sentencing comes three weeks after the American reporter Evan Gershkovich’s arrest on espionage charges. The U.S. ambassador to Russia met yesterday with Gershkovich. Ilya Yashin, an opposition leader, was sentenced to eight and a half years in December. |
| Background: Kara-Murza has long rankled the Kremlin and has survived what he has characterized as two state-sponsored attempts to poison him. |
| Other updates: |
| NATO is becoming the war-fighting alliance it was during the Cold War.At least 15 people died in a Russian missile attack in eastern Ukraine, in one of the deadliest assaults on Ukrainian civilians this year. |
