Vladimir Kara-Murza, a leading opponent of Vladimir Putin, was freed in a prisoner swap last month

Paris (AFP) - A leading opponent of Vladimir Putin, freed in a prisoner swap last month, on Monday urged the West against allowing the Russian leader any “face-saving” way out of the war against Ukraine, saying the end of his quarter-century rule was the only solution for peace.

Vladimir Kara-Murza, who had been serving a 25-year sentence in a Siberian penal colony on treason and other charges after denouncing the invasion of Ukraine, was one of 16 Russian dissidents and foreign nationals freed on August 1 in the largest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War.

In an interview with Agence France-Presse in Paris, Kara-Murza, 43, predicted he would be able to return to his homeland as the “regime” of Putin would not last.

Arriving in France after visits to countries including Germany, he acknowledged there was “fatigue” in Western societies over the war sparked by Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine but insisted the “Putin regime must be defeated”.

“It is very important that Vladimir Putin is not allowed to win the war against Ukraine,” said Kara-Murza, who was to meet with French President Emmanuel Macron later Monday.

“It is very important that Vladimir Putin is not allowed to have a face-saving exit from this war in Ukraine.”

The Cambridge-educated Kara-Murza lashed out at Western “realpolitik” in dealing with Russia under Putin, which he said had made the Russian leader “the monster he is today”.

“Enough of realpolitik,” he said.

“If, God forbid, the Putin regime is allowed to present the outcome of this war as a victory and survive in power, all this means is that a year or 18 months from now we will be talking about another war, conflict or another catastrophe.”

Kaza-Murza, a dual Russian and UK national, said he would be “honoured” to go to Ukraine and meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky, adding he was in favour of building bridges between Russia’s pro-democracy movement and Ukraine.

“We will have to find ways of living together and of overcoming this horrendous tragedy that the Putin regime has unleashed,” he said.

“It is not going to be an easy process, it’s not going to be a quick process, but we know that it’s possible.”