On August 1, the United States and Russia conducted a landmark prisoner exchange involving 16 people – the first of its kind since 1986 – which resulted in the release of several leading Russian dissidents. 

Among those freed was opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, who recently visited UN Headquarters in New York with Mariana Katzarova, the UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent expert – or Special Rapporteur – who monitors the Russian Federation, to introduce her new report to the General Assembly.

In an interview with UN News’s Nargiz Shekinskaya, Mr. Kara-Murza reflected on his recent release, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the ongoing human rights crisis in his homeland.

He underscored the "horrendous" scale of political imprisonment in Russia, where over 1,300 political prisoners are currently held, and countless others remain invisible.