Rudd urged to offer protection to critic targeted by Russia

A PROMINENT British critic of Vladimir Putin is being subjected to a “massive abuse of power” by Russia and should be offered protection by the UK Government, the Home Secretary has been told.

A senior Tory MP urged Amber Rudd to challenge the Kremlin’s repeated attempts to order the arrest of Bill Browder, a campaigner against Russian human rights abuses, through Interpol.

The intervention by Andrew Mitchell, a former cabinet minister, came after Russia made a fifth attempt to seek Mr Browder’s detention through the international body, as Mr Putin personally accused him of “illegal activity”.

In a letter to Ms Rudd, Mr Mitchell described Mr Browder as a “brave justice campaigner” and said he “deserves, and should receive, the protection” of the UK government.

Mr Browder, a Us-born financier, has led a worldwide campaign for sanctions against Russians guilty of human rights abuses, since his lawyer, Sergei Magnitsky, was found dead in a Russian prison in 2009, in what the UK government labelled an “atrocious murder”.