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Connections
A smiling man with short dark hair wearing a blue button-down shirt and a grey blazer. He is holding a pair of eyeglasses. The word "Connections" appears on the left side of the photo in vertical letters.
Connections

Russian dissident, released in the 2024 prisoner swap, visits Rochester

By Evan Dawson,
Megan Mack, Elissa Orlando, Julie Williams
Published October 21, 2025 at 4:09 PM EDT
Four men wearing headphones sit at a table in a radio talk studio: a man front left has short grey hair and is wearing a grey button-down shirt, black t-shirt, grey pants and brown shoes; a man front right has short dark hair and is wearing a grey plaid blazer, black button-down shirt, blue pants and brown shoes; a bald man back left has a brown beard and is wearing a brown blazer over a light blue button-down shirt; a man back right has short brown hair and is wearing a grey cardigan sweater over a lavender button-down shirt.
Mary Hussong-Kallen
/
WXXI News
(foreground) Dmitry Bykov, (background) Vladimir Kara-Murza and Randall Stone with host Evan Dawson on "Connections with Evan Dawson" on Tuesday, October 21, 2025
A smiling man with short dark hair wearing a blue button-down shirt and a grey blazer. He is holding a pair of eyeglasses. The word "Connections" appears on the left side of the photo in vertical letters.
WXXI News

Vladimir Kara-Murza is visiting Rochester to talk about his work as a Russian dissident. Kara-Murza was a protege of Boris Nemtsov, a leading Russian opposition leader who was assassinated in 2015.

He was imprisoned in April of 2022 for criticizing the invasion of Ukraine and then was released in August of 2024 during the prisoner swap arranged by the Biden administration.

Kara-Murza now works in exile for Open Russia.

Our guests:

Connections
Evan Dawson
Evan Dawson is the host of "Connections with Evan Dawson." He joined WXXI in January 2014 after working at 13WHAM-TV, where he served as morning news anchor. He was hired as a reporter for 13WHAM-TV in 2003 before being promoted to anchor in 2007.
See stories by Evan Dawson
Megan Mack
Megan Mack is the executive producer of "Connections with Evan Dawson" and live/televised engagement programming.
See stories by Megan Mack
Elissa Orlando
Elissa Orlando is a producer for “Connections with Evan Dawson.” She returns part-time to WXXI News after stepping back from a long career in public media and in translational science.
See stories by Elissa Orlando
Julie Williams
Julie Williams is an associate producer for "Connections with Evan Dawson." She started at WXXI in 2019 and has been working on Connections since 2022.
See stories by Julie Williams