Vladimir Kara-Murza survived almost a year in Russia's worst gulag - now he's been released he has told what he struggled with most in captivity

Murza, one of the faces of Russian opposition to Putin alongside Evan Gershkovich, sits down with The Independent for the first time since being freed in a historic prisoner swap. Tom Watling reports

I firmly and fundamentally believe that if we ever want to see Europe, that is whole free and at peace with itself, that is only going to be possible with a Democratic Russia.'

Russian dissident and opponent of Vladimir Putin, freed in the most high-profile prison swap since the end of the Cold War, has described the brutal treatment he suffered during 11 months of solitary confinement in Siberia.