Recently the Russian democracy activist Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in prison for what many in the West believe are politically motivated charges. According to a report by the BBC, Kara-Murza was found guilty of “treason” by a Russian court because he spoke to politicians in the United States about Russia committing war crimes in Ukraine. Kara-Murza is a well-known figure in pro-democracy circles in Russia and was close with Boris Nemtsov, another pro-democracy activist who was shot in 2015. Kara-Murza also supported the Global Magnitsky Act, which aims to sanction Russian oligarchs who support President Putin. All of this paints an even grimmer picture of the level of repression in Putin’s Russia.