Rubio Joins Democrats in Condemning Russian Detention of Opposition Leader

Washington, D.C.- U.S. Senator Marco Rubio has joined Democrat Senators on a Senate resolution critical of the Kremlin’s political suppression tactics. 

Senate Concurrent Resolution 7 condemns “in the strongest possible terms the unjust and arbitrary detention of Russian democratic opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza.”

Leader Kara-Murza is an anti-communist, right wing political activist who was detained on April 11, 2022 and incarcerated by Russian authorities. Kara-Murza had previously criticized the Kremlin during a speech to the Arizona House of Representatives on April 11, 2022. 

Senator Rubio was joined in condemning Kara-Murza’s ongoing arrest by fellow Republican Senator Roger Wicker and nine other Democrat Senators. 

Kara-Murza also survived two assassination attempts prior to his arrest, verified by third parties as Russian-orchestrated.

The resolution explained that part of Kara-Murza’s arrest was motivated by being “ charged unjustly with “high treason” due to his public condemnations of the Kremlin’s military aggression on Ukraine and domestic repressions.”

Since the invasion of Ukraine, Russia has emboldened its resolve to undermine international law. American reporter for the Wall Street Journal, Evan Gershkovich, was also recently jailed on charges similar to Kara-Murza’s. 

Senator Rubio has actively condemned violations of democracy and political rights on the international stage. In the western hemisphere, Rubio denounced Venezuela’s latest flouting of democracy. 

Rubio discredited the upcoming Venezuelan elections as “a complete scam” after the government banned presidential hopeful Maria Machado from participating. 

Kara-Murza played a crucial role in enacting legislation allowing the US government to freeze assets of Russian and other foreign government officials deemed to be human rights offenders.  The U.S. has attempted to leverage such measures as a deterrent and consequence to Russian aggression. 

However, countries such as Venezuela, also tagged with similar sanctions to Russia's own, are learning from the latter to circumvent such sanctions.  The Floridian reported earlier this year how Venezuela is mimicking Russian strategies to offset losses caused by U.S. sanctions.  

With presidential elections around the corner, foreign policy discussions focused on China and Russia will continue to emerge as candidates discuss alternative policy routes to confront the situation.