Following a trial that had all the markings of Stalin’s secret tribunals—complete with trumped-up charges of state treason—the Russian political activist and former journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza declined to use his last words to plead for clemency. Instead, he reasserted his belief in a Russia that will one day stop punishing dissent, cease being a threat to the world, and return to the family of nations. Among the most powerful voices drawing the world’s attention to his case have been his former colleagues—independent Russian journalists. Themselves in the regime’s crosshairs and forced to flee abroad, journalists and other members of the Russian civil society will have to continue fighting to realize the vision that Kara-Murza outlined in his final statement.

In this event, we discussed Kara-Murza’s sham trial and talk about the work new Russian political exiles are doing to help defeat the regime, accelerate the end of the war in Ukraine, and bring about the better Russia of the future that Kara-Murza envisions.