A human rights activist since the 1980s, Oleg Orlov thought Russia had turned a corner when the Soviet Union collapsed and a democratically elected president became leader.
But then Vladimir Putin rose to power, crushing dissent and launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Finally, the 71-year-old Orlov was himself thrown in prison for opposing the war. Freed last week in the largest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War, he was forced into exile -- just like the Soviet dissidents of his youth.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday in Berlin, Orlov decried t he scale and severity of repressions under Putin, with people imprisoned for merely criticizing the authorities, something unseen since the days of dictator Josef Stalin.
And he's vowing to continue his work to free the many political prisoners in Russia and keep their names in the spotlight.
"We're sliding somewhere into Stalin times," said Orlov, who at times showed signs of fatigue from a hectic schedule of media interviews in the week since his release.
