Emotional reunion: Freed Kara-Murza thanks Biden in moving call
8:29 AM EDT, August 2, 2024
After Thursday’s prisoner exchange, a touching recording surfaced online, showing the family of one of the released prisoners having a phone conversation with him. Vladimir Kara-Murza addresses his daughter, who, moved, responds to her father's question.
On Thursday, what media described as the largest prisoner exchange since the Cold War took place in Ankara. The operation involved 24 people from prisons in seven countries. Among them are experienced activists as well as journalists who opposed Russian aggression in Ukraine.
One of the freed individuals was Vladimir Kara-Murza – an anti-Kremlin opposition activist holding British citizenship and a U.S. green card in addition to his Russian passport. He was arrested in 2022 for criticizing the war and was sentenced a year later to 25 years in prison for treason.
Kara-Murza, who wrote columns for the American newspaper "The Washington Post," was awarded the Pulitzer Prize this year. He was gravely ill in 2015 and 2017, which he claimed was due to poisoning attempts by Kremlin services.
Freed Vladimir Kara-Murza. He could talk to his family
On Friday, political commentator and activist Igor Sushko published a touching recording showing the freed individual's family in the company of Joe Biden having a phone conversation with him.
In the short video, Vladimir Kara-Murza greets the interlocutors and then addresses his daughter, asking if it is her.
“Hi, little one,” he says.
“Hi dad, it's good to hear you,” the clearly emotional girl responds, adding that they are in the Oval Office. Moments later, the man is heard thanking President Biden for his release.
“No word is strong enough for this. I was sure I'm going to die in prison because I don't believe what’s happening. I still think I'm sleeping in my prison cell in Omsk instead of hearing your voice,” said Kara-Murza.
“I just want you to know you've done a wonderful thing by saving so many people," he continued, emphasizing that “I still can't believe this is happening."
“We're going to see you at Andrews, don't pretend you don't know us, ok?,” Joe Biden replied jokingly.
Among those exchanged in Ankara were, among others: 32-year-old Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent for the American newspaper "Wall Street Journal," who was sentenced in Russia to 16 years in prison for alleged espionage; former soldier Paul Whelan, also sentenced in Russia to 16 years in prison for espionage in 2020; and Russian oppositionist Ilya Yashin, a former associate of the 2015 murdered former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, who was sentenced in 2022 to 8.5 years in a penal colony for alleged fake news about the actions of the Russian armed forces.
