Evgenia Kara-Murza forgets the number of interviews she has done since her husband was jailed for 25 years in Russia after being convicted of treason in April.

Before sitting down with Metro.co.uk in Geneva, the wife of the prominent activist Vladimir Kara-Murza opened the 15th Summit for Human Rights and Democracy in the Swiss city.

She stood at the very same stage where the Russian-British author was honoured for his courage years earlier after taking up the fight against the Kremlin.

Vladimir is part of the country’s beleaguered opposition, many of whom now sit in jail.

Since his detention last year, the mum-of-three has been speaking out on his and other political prisoners’ behalf.

Evgenia told us that ‘publicity is her only weapon’ against Vladimir Putin’s regime, and how she is being pushed forward by ‘fury and indignation’.

‘I need to make sure the world knows, does not turn away and understands what is happening in Russia to all those who stand up and voice their opposition to the regime,’ she said.

‘It is not just my husband. We are talking about tens of thousands of people. More than 20,000 people have been detained across the country since the launch of the invasion of Ukraine.

‘More than 500 criminal cases have been initiated against anti-war protesters and more than 20,000 administrative cases. I will continue speaking out on their behalf for as long as it takes.

‘It is harder to kill someone when the entire world is watching. I will make sure the names and stories are known to make it harder for Russia’s regime to further put pressure on these people or try the unthinkable. This is honestly my only weapon.’

Any political opposition in the country has been conflated with high treason, and Vladimir, who was once deputy leader of the opposition group People’s Freedom Party, has paid a high price for campaigning against the president since 2000.

He was arrested on charges of disobeying police orders in April 2022, facing up to 15 days behind bars or a fine, but was later charged for denouncing Russia’s war in Ukraine and treason.

A protégé of murdered Putin rival Boris Nemtsov, Vladimir was the vice-chairman of the Open Russia movement, a political organisation founded by businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which promotes civil society and democracy in the country.

It is these activities that led to the two near-fatal poisoning attempts in May 2015 and February 2017, his allies claim.

An investigation by Bellingcat from 2021 revealed that an FSB unit also implicated in the poisoning of Alexey Navalny and three Russian activists had systematically tailed him before both his first and second medical emergencies.

His family watched him slip into prolonged comas after the incidents that left him with a serious nerve disorder called polyneuropathy, which can be fatal.

Evgenia still fears for her husband’s life while he is in prison where his mental and physical health are declining.

‘Of course, I am worried about his life, I have been for years,’ she said.

Like other political activists, Vladimir is being kept ‘disconnected’ from the outside world, she stressed.

Regarding the risk to their three children and herself, she believes Moscow ‘would not dare’ to target them abroad.

The professional translator and interpreter said: ‘Our kids are safe. They have been living in the US for many years because we realised that for Vladimir to continue his work as he saw fit the kids needed to be in a safe place.’

Examining what is left of the limited rights and freedoms to which Russians clung to, it is no surprise how the regime retaliated to Vladimir’s political activities.

Research by OVD-Info, a Russian human rights monitoring agency, shows almost
20,000 protesters have been detained since the beginning of the war.

On behalf of her husband, Evgenia is using money he received from human rights awards last year to support families of political prisoners in the country.

She is working with the Free Russia Foundation to provide direct financial support to families of PoWs.

‘The foundation uses a network of lawyers inside Russia to locate Ukrainian PoWs. We try to work with those who are inside,’ she explained.

Asked what advice she can give to rights activists inside Russia, Evgenia said: ‘I am in no position to give advice to those who are one-on-one with the regime.

‘I do not believe I have that moral right. I will do everything to ensure the blight is known and to help them as much as I can.’

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