Socialism 2025: Putin's Anti-War Political Prisoners in Russia

This is a recording of a panel from the Socialism 2025 conference in Chicago, held over July 3–6. It examines Putin’s repression of critical voices, those who have publicly opposed his war of aggression against Ukraine.

Boris Kagarlitsky, the well-known Marxist critic of Putin's regime, is currently serving a five year sentence in a penal colony for "justifying terrorism" – a charge stemming from a satirical comment about the Crimean bridge explosion. While Kagarlitsky’s case has drawn international attention, many other leftwing critics remain imprisoned in obscurity, often held in appalling conditions.

The panel was moderated by Suzi Weissman, editorial board member of Against the Current and Critique, host of the Jacobin Radio podcast and author of 'Victor Serge: The Course is Set on Hope'.

It features contributions from Russian socialist Ilya Budtraitskis, Ksenia Kagarlitskaya, the daughter of jailed Russian Marxist Boris Kagarlitsky, Grusha Gilaeva, managing editor of Russian anti-war website Posle, and Simon Pirani, historian and researcher on Russia and Ukraine.

You can read Green Left’s extensive coverage of the campaign to free Boris Kagarlitsky and other jailed anti-war Russian dissidents here: https://www.greenleft.org.au/people/boris-kagarlitsky

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