Veteran human rights defender released in exchange claims Russia is retreating to Stalin era
BERLIN: Oleg Orlov, a human rights activist since the 1980s, believes Russia reached a turning point when the Soviet Union collapsed and a democratically elected president took over.
But when Vladimir Putin seized power, crushed the opposition and launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Orlov, 71, was eventually jailed for his opposition to the war. Released last week in the biggest prisoner swap since the Cold War, he was forced into exile like many Soviet dissidents of his youth.
In an interview with The Associated Press in Berlin on Thursday, Orlov decried the scale and severity of repression under Putin's regime, with people being jailed simply for criticizing the regime, a level not seen since the days of dictator Josef Stalin.
And he vowed to continue his work to free many political prisoners in Russia and bring their names to light.
“We are entering the Stalin era,” said Olof, who at times appeared tired after a busy schedule of media interviews in the week since his release.
He was sentenced in February to two years and six months in prison for writing a subversive article. He was awaiting transfer to a prison after losing an appeal when he was unexpectedly transferred from a prison in central Russia last month, ultimately resulting in a prisoner swap on August 1.
He told AP the move was completely unexpected.
First, he was told to write a request for pardon to Putin. He said he flatly refused. A few days later, he was put in a van and, to his surprise, taken to Samara Airport and flown to Moscow.
“It's a really strange feeling to be on a plane right from prison, among free people,” Orlov said.
He was held in isolation for three more days in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo prison, complaining that he had no access to a lawyer. Then he was shown a document saying he had been pardoned. He was on a plane again, this time to Germany, where he was welcomed by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, along with other released Russian dissidents.
He smiled as he recalled seeing familiar faces on the bus to the airport: Sasha Skochilenko, the artist and musician jailed for anti-war protests, and Andrei Pivovarov, an opposition politician.
“So when the national security agents announced (on the bus) that it was a swap, we already knew perfectly well that,” he said.
But while detained in Lefortovo, Orlov suspected that another criminal case was being prepared against him. Asked what charges the authorities might bring, he said, “I’ll find one without any problems.”
“The oppressive machine has been set in motion and is running on its own,” the veteran human rights advocate said. “The machine is running to sustain itself, and it only deepens and makes the oppression more severe.”
Memorial, co-founded by Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Orlov, says there are still more than 760 political prisoners in Russia. Another prominent human rights group, OVD-Info, says there are more than 1,300 people currently incarcerated in politically motivated cases.
According to Orlov, some of them are kept in isolation without access to lawyers or doctors, often on orders from the authorities.
Opposition politicians like the late Alexei Navalny and the recently replaced Vladimir Karamurzha were confined to very isolated conditions in remote penal colonies and suffered from deteriorating health.
“My experience was much easier than many others,” Orlov said. Prison officials “never treated me completely lawless,” he added. “I wasn't singled out from the crowd.”
Still, he said it was important to support the growing number of people being prosecuted for political reasons, from reporting their plight on the news to sending letters and consolation packages and helping their families.
In prison, “you're always worried about your family. Knowing that your family is going to be okay really helps to feel peace. The most important thing in prison is to not despair and to feel peace of mind,” Orlov said.
Since starting a new life in exile, which he never sought, Orlov has had little time to process his newfound freedom, and he has not yet been reunited with his wife.
But he is determined to continue his work at Memorial, and says there are things advocates can do outside of Russia, too, such as maintaining a database of political prisoners and coordinating support for those in prison.
But to end repression across the board, Putin's “repressive and terrorist regime” must cease to exist, he said.
