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Russian dissident faces criminal charges in Moscow after speech to Arizona lawmakers

Vladimir Kara-Murza is accused of spreading "false information" at a House of Representatives event in March. He was also a pallbearer at Sen. John McCain's funeral.

PHOENIX — Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, a close friend of the late Arizona Sen. John McCain, faces criminal charges in Moscow based on a speech he gave last month to the Arizona House of Representatives, according to news reports and the charging document posted by Kara-Murza's attorney.

A Russian court on Friday accused Kara-Murza of spreading "deliberately false information" about Russia's invasion of Ukraine during the Arizona speech, causing "significant harm to the interests of the Russian Federation," according to a translation of the charging document.

Kara-Murza could face up to 10 years in prison, according to reports.  His case is the latest being pursued by Russian authorities against critics of the Ukraine war.

Kara-Murza is already serving a 15-day jail sentence after his arrest in Moscow last week for allegedly evading police. 

In his 15-minute speech to the Arizona House on March 15, Kara-Murza noted his long friendship with McCain, and praised the senator's foresight in understanding Vladimir Putin's authoritarian impulses.

Kara-Murza, a Russian opposition leader and journalist who has survived two suspected poisonings by Russian authorities, also spoke about the Putin regime's repression of war protesters.

"These are very dark times in Russia today," he said. 

"These are times when we have hundreds of political prisoners and that number is only going to grow... Every day we hear of new arrests, new oppressions against our friends. But we remember that lesson that the night is darkest before the dawn. We know the dawn will come."

Kara-Murza's visit to Arizona was sponsored by the Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations.

McCain, who planned his own funeral, chose Kara-Murza as a pallbearer, in an apparent dig at Putin and McCain nemesis President Donald Trump. The Arizona senator had criticized Trump for getting cozy with Putin.

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