Russia issued a stern warning to the political dissidents and Western citizens the Kremlin released from jails after they were freed on Thursday in the largest prisoner swap since the end of the Cold War.
US President Joe Biden and his VP Kamala Harris gave a heroic welcome to the three newly-freed Americans after they arrived on US soil.
Russia released 16 prisoners, including four US residents. These included former US marine Paul Whelan and journalists Alsu Kurmasheva and Evan Gershkovich.
In exchange, the West freed eight inmates, including hitman Vadim Krasikov, who was serving a life imprisonment in Berlin for the 2019 killing of a Chechen dissident.
Putin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza released from Siberian prison cell
Meanwhile, former President Dmitry Medvedev threatened the freed prisoners, stating that they should hide under “new names” and “actively disguise themselves”.
The remarks particularly came after 42-year-old Russian lawmaker Vladimir Kara-Murza, who is dual-passport holders with the UK, expressed his pleasure and joy at being released from the Siberian prison cell.
“No word is strong enough for this…. I was sure I was going to die in prison,” he told his family who were in attendance with Biden in the Oval Office.
Kara-Murza was serving a 25-year sentence for “treason” in Siberia jail and there had been serious concerns that he might die in prison for opposing Putin and his war against Ukraine. Calling Putin “vengeful, cowardly, greedy old man”, he had said that the Russian President “still holds on with a death grip, destroying anyone in whom he sees a threat to his power.”
Kara-Murza further stressed that Putin “must be stopped”, adding that “And only Russian society itself can do this.”
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Russia asks traitors to ‘actively disguise themselves’
Medvedev, the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, wrote on Telegram: “I would like, of course, for the traitors to Russia to rot in a dungeon or die in prison, as often happened.” He, however, supported the repatriation of jailed spies and the 58-year-old state assassin Krasikov from the West.
Russia President Vladimir Putin’s close ally asserted that it is “more useful to bring out our own people who worked for the country, for the Fatherland, for all of us.” He made the implication that individuals who were set free, pardoned by Putin prior to their departure, would require future security from Russian operatives.
“Let the traitors now feverishly pick up new names and actively disguise themselves under witness protection programmes,” Medvedev remarked.
According to the Russian state news agency, TASS, the Kremlin in a subtle warning expressed hope that those who have left Russia, whom it referred to as “enemies,” would stay away.
Back in the US, Biden praised his allies for making the “toughest call” to free the inmates, while Harris declared that it was “an incredible day.”
In Russia, Putin greeted the prisoners after they returned to their homeland and announced that they would be given state awards.
