One of the Russian dissidents involved in Thursday’s prisoner exchange, Ilya Yashin, declared on Friday that he did not desire his freedom if it meant leaving his homeland.
According to the New York Times, Yasin disclosed this at a news conference in Bonn, Germany, alongside other newly freed Russians.
“I will never make peace with the role of an emigrant,” said Yashin, 41,
Yashin recounted how he penned a statement before being transferred from his penal colony, asserting his lack of consent to the exchange.
He emphasized, “The Russian Constitution bans sending a citizen of the Russian Federation abroad without his consent. As a Russian citizen, I confirm that I do not give permission to be sent outside of Russia.”
He disclosed that authorities warned him that any attempt to return to Russia would result in a fate similar to that of Aleksei A. Navalny, who died in February in an Arctic penal colony on what many Western governments and human rights groups denounced as fabricated charges.
Yashin added, “They made it clear that my return would block any potential exchanges of any other political prisoners for the foreseeable future,” stressing that others in poorer health deserved his spot in the exchange.
“It is unbearable to think that I am free because I was exchanged for a killer,” Yashin said, referencing Vadim Krasikov, a Russian convicted in Germany of assassinating a former Chechen separatist in Berlin in 2019. The Kremlin later confirmed Krasikov’s role as an operative of the F.S.B., a successor to the Soviet K.G.B.
The dissidents at the Bonn conference, including Vladimir Kara-Murza and Andrei Pivovarov, expressed gratitude to the West for their freedom but highlighted that they were forced out of Russia against their will.
“Since my first days in prison, I have said I do not want to be included in any exchange,” Yashin stated.
He viewed his imprisonment as part of his antiwar stance and struggle against Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, as well as his fight for the right to live and engage in politics in Russia.
Yashin had denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the atrocities in Bucha, resulting in an eight-and-a-half-year sentence for allegedly spreading false information about the Russian military.
Unlike many of Russia’s political prisoners, Yashin was mentally prepared for a lengthy sentence.
The newly released Russians, including Kara-Murza, who spent over two years in isolation, were still adjusting to their unexpected freedom.
Kara-Murza, 42, who survived two poisoning attempts and imprisonment, remarked, “After spending a year in solitary confinement, I wasn’t sure I was still able to speak in any language.”
Despite his isolation, he spoke in flawless English, recalling the surreal experience of being in a crowded airport.
He likened his recent experiences to watching a movie, struggling to grasp the reality of his release.
Kara-Murza, who lost significant weight during his imprisonment and earned a Pulitzer Prize for his commentaries in The Washington Post, was serving a 25-year sentence for treason, the longest for any political prisoner in modern Russian history.
“I was certain I was going to die in Putin’s prison,” he said, revealing his unawareness of the exchange until the morning of the flight when he saw Yashin and Pivovarov on the bus.
He emphasized the illegal nature of the exchange, noting that a formal pardon petition, which none of them submitted, is usually required for release.
Kara-Murza shared his intended response to signing a pardon statement: “I said I don’t consider Putin to be the legitimate president of my country. I consider him to be a usurper and a murderer. I will not admit any guilt because I am not guilty of anything.”
The dissidents recounted the pressure from prison officials to request pardons and their journey from penal colonies to Moscow, then to Ankara, Turkey, for the exchange.
Yashin described leaving prison in his black uniform jacket with only his toothbrush and toothpaste, while Kara-Murza humorously recounted wearing lounge pants, an undershirt, and rubber slippers after his uniform was confiscated.
“The guard was surprised I didn’t have any civilian clothes, and I asked him what I would need them for, to go to the theater?” Kara-Murza joked.
All three men expressed their appreciation for the supportive audience. Kara-Murza thanked Germany, the U.S., and Britain for securing their freedom, acknowledging the complexity of the decision.
“We know this was not a simple decision for the German government,” he said, referring to Krasikov’s release. “Easy decisions are only possible in an autocracy.”
He recalled an F.S.B. officer on the flight to Ankara telling him to look out the window, as it would be his last view of Russia.
“I told him, ‘I am a historian by education, and I don’t only feel and believe, but I know that I will be back in my home country — and it will be much sooner than you think.”
