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Mikhail Khodorkovsky

Headshot of Mikhail Khodorkovsky

Mikhail Khodorkovsky is founder of the Open Russia movement,  former Yukos CEO and Amnesty prisoner of conscience

October 2022

  • Vladimir Putin meets Russia’s defence minister Sergei Shoigu

    double quotation markA smart British visa policy could exploit the Russian brain drain and weaken Putin

    Mikhail Khodorkovsky
    Despite anti-Ukrainian, anti-western propaganda, many Russians don’t wish to risk their lives to commit war crimes.

March 2022

  • An anti-war protest in St Petersburg, 1 March 2022.

    double quotation markHistory demands the west deploy every legal and financial weapon against Putin

    Mikhail Khodorkovsky
    His regime and all those complicit in war crimes must be held accountable – starting now, says Mikhail Khodorkovsky, founder of the Open Russia movement

November 2018

  • Interpol vice-president Alexander Prokopchuk (L) with the president, Meng Hongwei, in 2017

    double quotation markIn Putin’s era it’s crazy to let a Russian lead Interpol. We must prevent it

    Mikhail Khodorkovsky
    What kind of signal would appointing Alexander Prokopchuk send about Interpol’s values, asks the founder of the Open Russia movement, Mikhail Khodorkovsky

July 2013

  • A woman protests after opposition leader Alexei Navalny was sentenced to 5 years in a penal colony

    double quotation markAlexei Navalny's trial is an indictment of Russia's corrupt establishment

    Mikhail Khodorkovsky
    Mikhail Khodorkovsky: In a land where those in power wreak havoc with the law and settle personal scores with opponents, no one is safe

August 2012

  • Pussy Riot members appear in court on hooliganism charges

    double quotation markPussy Riot trial: I've been there – how can these women endure it?

    Mikhail Khodorkovsky
    Mikhail Khodorkovsky: Moscow's arduous court system is degrading and humiliating and this so-called trial brings shame on Russia

February 2012

  • Prime Minister Vladimir Putin delivers a speech during a rally of his supporters in Moscow

    double quotation markReal political change in Russia is unavoidable

    Mikhail Khodorkovsky
    Mikhail Khodorkovsky: Russia's presidential election next Sunday may return Putin to the Kremlin. But it is not business as usual