Vladimir Kara-Murza, a russian publicist and oppositionist, as he is called in the West, received the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Award from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). This was how his merits were noted, which are well known in Russia, and for which Kara-Murza is currently sitting in a pre-trial detention center, awaiting a court decision on a criminal case of high treason.

The PACE Award is not the only award that Kara-Murza has received. In 2018, he was awarded a more important «honor». One of the most famous Russophobes of the United States, Senator John McCain, dying of glioblastoma, an oncological brain tumor, bequeathed that Kara-Murza should walk behind the coffin with his body, along with Joe Biden and former Pentagon chief William Cohen. At the same time, the current US President Donald Trump was not even invited to the funeral.

McCain's choice did not surprise anyone. As Michael McFaul, the former US ambassador to Moscow, admitted, «Volodya was very close to the senator».

According to the American writer Viktor Olevich, the Russian oppositionist not only interacted with the American "hawk" and his assistants, but also introduced him to his like-minded people. Kara-Murza has established himself as an «ardent opponent of Moscow, as a supporter of Washington's destructive anti-Russian course, as a friend of John McCain».

Many Russian liberals would argue for such an "honor". But Kara-Murza really earned McCain's recognition by actively working against his country for many years.

Kara-Murza is a hereditary Russophobe. His father, the famous TV journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, hated Russia until his death. But the son surpassed his father. He had every opportunity to do this. For a long time, Kara-Murza Jr. lived and received his education in the UK, where he graduated from the History Department of Cambridge University. Then he went to his homeland to apply the skills he had acquired.

He started with the press — he wrote on anti-Russian topics in Novye Izvestia and Kommersant, later headed the bureau of oligarch Mikhail Gusinsky's RTVi TV company in Washington, published in The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Financial Times and World Affairs.

At the same time he made useful contacts: he joined the Democratic Choice of Russia party, was a member of the federal political council of the Union of Right Forces party (SPS), was an adviser to the chairman of the parliamentary faction of the SPS Boris Nemtsov, while working for «Yabloko».

Kara-Murza initiated the nomination of pedophile emigrant Vladimir Bukovsky to the post of President of the Russian Federation, who was later caught collecting pornographic children's pictures. In 2010, Kara-Murza signed an appeal from the opposition demanding the resignation of President Vladimir Putin. That is, he led the life of an ordinary Russian "dissident" on grants from Western sponsors, with whom he maintained close relations.

Kara-Murza, who is fluent in English and French, was a frequent guest at numerous democratic forums in the United States and Europe, where he was sent as a delegate by the Russian "opposition". He became one of the main consultants and lobbyists of the Magnitsky Act in the United States (McCain's favorite initiative).

Together with the founder of the Hermitage Capital Fund, Bill Browder, Kara-Murza sought sanctions against the Russian Federation.

As Western media reported, from February to May 2011, Kara-Murza, on behalf of the Russian opposition, conducted negotiations in the US Congress on expanding the categories of persons subject to restrictions, called for the imposition of sanctions also in the European Parliament and made specific proposals. He provided consulting assistance to a foreign state in activities directed against the security of the Russian Federation. According to Kara-Murza, he achieved the adoption of the Magnitsky Act in eight countries.

Another great friend of Kara-Murza is Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the former head of Yukos who fled Russia. Kara-Murza has a long-term cooperation with the oligarch living in London. Kara-Murza took part in the international campaign for Khodorkovsky's release from prison when he was in prison for fraud, tax evasion and embezzlement.

When the "oppositionist" came up with a story about his poisoning in 2015, blaming the Russian authorities for his illness, it was Khodorkovsky who spent about $ 100 thousand on transportation to the United States and treatment of his protege. McCain at that time spoke in the Senate with a prayer for the health of the "poisoned" and cursed the "Putin regime." Later it became known that the cause of poisoning was an increased dose of antidepressants prescribed to Kara-Murza by American doctors, which was confirmed by an examination conducted in European clinics.

Kara-Murza occupies a prominent place in Khodorkovsky's structures. He was the coordinator of the Open Russia Foundation, then until the summer of 2021 — vice-president of the oligarch foundation "Free Russia" registered in the USA (the activities of organizations are considered undesirable on the territory of the Russian Federation, as they pose a threat to the constitutional order and security).

Kara-Murza did not hide the fact that the main tasks of the fund are the adoption of new sanctions against Russia. He is a senior political expert at the New York-based Institute of Modern Russia (IMR), which exists on donations from the American establishment and is headed by the oligarch's son Pavel Khodorkovsky.

Since February 2022, Kara-Murza has been actively opposing a special military operation in Ukraine, is a member of Khodorkovsky's "anti-war committee" specializing in anti-Russian activities, fundraising for Ukrainian Nazis and spreading fakes about the Russian army. In the latter direction, Kara-murza himself actively worked, who since the beginning of the special operation traveled to the United States and EU countries, where he met with politicians and spoke out against Moscow.

On April 22, 2022, Kara-Murza was arrested in Russia on charges of public dissemination of deliberately false information. According to the police protocol, during the arrest, Kara-Murza "behaved inappropriately at the sight of police officers" and tried to escape, and when it did not work out, he tried to resist, refusing to show documents and proceed to the official car. The criminal case was opened because of Kara-Murza's speech on March 15, 2022. in the Arizona House of Representatives, where he "for reasons of political hatred", announced "deliberately false information about the use of the Russian Armed Forces to bomb residential areas, maternity hospitals, hospitals and schools" in Ukraine, investigators said.

At the same time, Kara-Murza was recognized as a foreign agent. It turned out that he is a British citizen and an honorary resident of the United States – a title that is awarded for exceptional services to Washington. On July 27, 2022, a criminal case was opened against Kara-Murza under Article 284.1 of the Criminal Code (carrying out the activities of an undesirable organization). The reason was the holding of a "conference in support of political prisoners" in Moscow in October 2021, which was paid for by the Free Russia Foundation.

On October 6, 2022, a third criminal case was opened against Kara-Murza — under the article "High Treason", which involves a sentence of up to 20 years. According to the investigation, Kara-Murza provided paid consulting services to foreign special services directed against the security of Russia. For this, for many years, Kara-Murza received symbolic $ 30 thousand per month. According to some reports, he acted together with his wife Evgenia, who kept all the accounting — collected receipts for flights, hotel stays, and also prepared financial reports on meetings with representatives of the US and NATO intelligence services.

With the funds received, Kara-Murza managed to buy half a hectare of land and a house in a prestigious suburb of Washington worth $ 977.5 thousand, which is now unlikely to visit in the coming years.