BERLIN: Oleg Orlov, a human rights activist since the 1980s, thought Russia had turned a corner when the Soviet Union collapsed and a democratically elected president became the leader. But then Vladimir Putin came to power, crushed dissent and launched an all-out invasion of Ukraine. Eventually, the 71-year-old Orlov himself was thrown into prison for opposing the war. He was released last week in the largest east-west prisoner swap since the Cold War and forced into exile – just like the Soviet dissidents of his youth.
