I went to the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office) on more than one occasion at the request of Kara-Murza’s friends and family, and also at the request of people connected with Alexei Navalny. When I asked about prisoner swaps, I was given a straight “no”. I understood the reason, although it was frustrating.
If this deal today had been done earlier, might it have included Navalny, a man who could have conceivably been a rival to Putin for power? Or was Putin always determined to murder Navalny, someone he hated so much he refused to use his name until he was dead?
Vladimir Kara-Murza was a British subject, so we could justifiably argue harder for him. David Cameron and the FCDO pushed his case with the US, as did other good people such as Bill Browder, the Putin critic, and Parliamentarians from all sides.
It is a good thing that there are fewer political prisoners in Russian jails on Thursday night. As Navalny’s wife Yulia tweeted on hearing the news: “No one should be held hostage by Putin, subjected to torture, or left to die in his prisons.”
Yet the reality of today is that Putin has, again, taken innocent people as hostages to get his spies and crooks home. Balancing our desire to see our people protected, while refusing to give in to this kind of blackmail, is a continuing conundrum for law-governed Western states.
The danger is that, as international rivalries grow more tense, state hostage-taking by our adversaries will become worse. There are no easy answers, but for families of those now free, there is at least the joy of seeing their loved ones safe, and alive.
Robert Seely was the Member of Parliament for the Isle of Wight 2017-2024. His book Total War, a Guide to Russia’s War in Ukraine and Across the Globe will be published by Biteback Publishing in February 2025.