BERLIN (AP) — A human rights activist since the 1980s, Oleg Orlov thought Russia had reached a turning point when the Soviet Union collapsed and a democratically elected president became leader.
But then Vladimir Putin came to power, crushed dissent and launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ultimately, the 71-year-old Orlov himself was thrown in jail for opposing the war. He was released last week in the largest prisoner exchange between East and West Since the Cold War, he has been forced into exile, like the Soviet dissidents of his youth.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday in Berlin, Orlov criticized the The scale and severity of the repression under Putin, where people were jailed for criticizing the authorities. That was something we had not seen since the time of dictator Joseph Stalin.
And he promises to continue his work to free Russia’s many political prisoners and keep their names in the spotlight.
“We are sliding somewhere into the Stalin era,” said Orlov, who has occasionally shown signs of fatigue from a hectic schedule of media interviews in the week since his release.
He was sentenced to 2½ years in prison in February for writing an anti-war article. When he was unexpectedly transferred from a prison in central Russia last month for what eventually led to the Prisoner exchange on August 1he was awaiting transfer to a penal colony after losing an appeal.
The move came as a complete surprise, he told AP.
First, he was told to write a request for clemency to Putin — something he says he flatly refused. Days later, he was put in a van and, to his surprise, driven to an airport in Samara and flown to Moscow.
“Finding yourself on an airplane, among free people, straight from prison – that’s a very strange feeling,” Orlov said.
Three more days followed in The infamous Lefortovo prison in Moscowisolated in his cell, where he wrote a complaint that he had been denied access to his lawyer. He was then shown a document stating that he had been pardoned. He was put on a plane again, this time from Russia, with other released dissidents, and was greeted in Germany by Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
He laughed as he remembered seeing familiar faces on the bus to the airport: artist and musician Sasha Skochilenko, jailed for a minor anti-war protest, opposition politician Andrei Pivovarov and others.
“When a state security official (on the bus) announced that it was an exchange, we already understood that very well,” he said.
While in custody in Lefortovo, however, Orlov suspected that another criminal case was being prepared against him. As for the charges the authorities could bring, he said: “They would have no problem finding one.”
“The repressive machine … is set in motion and is running on its own,” the veteran human rights lawyer said. “The machine is working to maintain itself and can only intensify the repression, make it harder.”
Memorial, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize Human rights group Orlov co-founder says there are more than 760 political prisoners in Russia. Another prominent human rights group, OVD-Info, says there are currently more than 1,300 in prison in politically motivated cases.
Some of them are isolated and denied access to lawyers or doctors, often on the orders of the authorities, Orlov said.
Opposition politicians, such as the late Alexei Navalny or the recently resigned Vladimir Kara-Murza, were held in such isolated conditions in remote penal colonies and their health deteriorated.
“My experience was much easier than that of many others,” Orlov said. Prison officials “never acted with complete lawlessness toward me,” he added, “I was not singled out from the crowd.”
Still, it is important to support the growing number of people persecuted for political reasons, he said, by keeping their plight in the news, sending them letters and care packages, and helping their families.
In prison, “there is always a feeling of concern for your family. When you know that your family is fine, it really helps to feel peace. And in prison, the most important thing is not to despair and to feel peace in your mind,” Orlov said.
In the hectic days since beginning his new life in exile, which he never sought, Orlov has had little time to process his new freedom and has yet to be reunited with his wife.
But he is determined to continue his work with Memorial and says there are still things advocates outside Russia can do, such as maintaining the database of political prisoners and coordinating aid to those in custody.
But a complete end to repression will only come when Putin’s “repressive, terrorist regime” ceases to exist, he says.
