Vladimir V. Kara-Murza (Russian: Владимир Владимирович Кара-Мурза) (born 7 September 1981, Moscow) is a Russian journalist, historian and politician. He studied in Great Britain at the John Lyon School in Harrow, London, and graduated with an B.A. and M.A.(Cantab.) in History (First Class) from Cambridge University (Trinity Hall). He is a member of the Federal Political Council of Solidarnost, the Russian pro-democracy opposition movement led by former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov.
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Vladimir Kara-Murza is married, with three children. He is the son of Russian television journalist Vladimir A. Kara-Murza, great-grandson of Latvian revolutionary Voldemārs Bissenieks (1884–1938), great-grand-nephew of Latvia's first Ambassador to Great Britain Georgs Bissenieks (1885-1941), and of Latvian agronomist and publisher Jānis Bissenieks (1864-1923).
Kara-Murza entered journalism at the age of 16. In 1997–2000 he was the London correspondent of Russia's Novye Izvestia newspaper; in 2000–2003, the London correspondent of Kommersant. In 2002 he was editor-in-chief of the London-based financial publication "Russian Investment Review". In 2004 he became the Washington bureau chief of RTVi television network. Since 2010 he has been writing a weekly blog, "Spotlight on Russia", for World Affairs journal.
In 2005 Kara-Murza produced a four-part TV documentary, "They Chose Freedom", dedicated to the history of the Soviet dissident movement. The documentary was based on interviews with prominent Russian dissidents, including Vladimir Bukovsky, Elena Bonner and Sergei Kovalev. It was first aired in November 2005.
In 2011, Kara-Murza published his first book, "Reform or Revolution: The Quest for Responsible Government in the First Russian State Duma", which recounts the unsuccessful attempt by the Constitutional Democratic Party to form a government during the short existence of the first Russian Parliament in April–July 1906. The book was launched in Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
From 2000 until 2003 Kara-Murza served as plenipotentiary representative of Russia's Union of Right Forces party in Great Britain and as an adviser to party leader Boris Nemtsov. In the 2003 Russian parliamentary election Kara-Murza contested the Chertanovsky constituency in Moscow as the democratic opposition candidate, with the backing of the Union of Right Forces and Yabloko parties. According to international and domestic monitors, the campaign's coverage in state-controlled media was heavily biased in favour of the pro-government United Russia party, which emerged with more than two-thirds of the seats in the new State Duma. In the Chertanovsky constituency, Kara-Murza received 23,800 votes and came second out of 10 candidates (after United Russia candidate Vladimir Gruzdev).
In May 2007 Kara-Murza initiated the nomination of Vladimir Bukovsky, a writer and prominent Soviet-era dissident, as a candidate in the 2008 Russian presidential election and served as the national coordinator of Bukovsky's presidential campaign committee, which included Yuri Ryzhov, Viktor Shenderovich, Andrei Piontkovsky, Alexander Podrabinek, and others. On December 22, 2007 the Russian Central Electoral Commission announced its refusal to register Bukovsky as a candidate.
In December 2007 Kara-Murza was elected to the Federal Political Council of the Union of Right Forces, but left the party in September 2008 in protest at its deal with the Kremlin. He is currently a member of the Federal Political Council of "Solidarnost" (elected in December 2008, re-elected in December 2010), and is responsible for the movement's international relations.
| Candidate | Nominating party (parties) | Votes | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vladimir Gruzdev | United Russia | 149,069 | 53.78 |
| Vladimir V. Kara-Murza | Union of Right Forces, Yabloko | 23,800 | 8.59 |
| Sergei Seregin | Communist Party of the Russian Federation | 18,992 | 6.85 |
| Yelena Yakovleva | Independent | 9,191 | 3.32 |
| Nikolai Sokolov | Liberal Democratic Party of Russia | 5,784 | 2.09 |
| Yuri Timofeev | Party of Russian Renewal, Russian Party of Life | 4,950 | 1.79 |
| Vladimir Rebrikov | National Patriotic Forces of the Russian Federation | 4,347 | 1.57 |
| Yegveny Shvets | Independent | 4,250 | 1.53 |
| Maxim Krasikov | Independent | 3,350 | 1.21 |
| Vyacheslav Palashchenko | Rus' | 1,449 | 0.52 |
| Against All Candidates | 47,597 | 17.17 | |