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Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former Russian oil magnate jailed for ten years on Vladimir Putin’s orders, gave an interview to France 24 from London, where he now lives in exile. Khodorkovsky said that while a “direct confrontation with NATO” was not part of the Russian president’s plan, he would take enough courage if Russia succeeds in Ukraine that NATO’s borders “will no longer be an obstacle” to his ambitions.
Khodorkovsky, once the richest man in Russia and founder of Open Russia, an alliance of progressive Russians, claimed that Putin has no choice but to see the invasion of Ukraine through to the end to satisfy his political base of “patriotic nationalists”. “I am convinced that Putin cannot stop,” he said.
With the help of the West, kyiv could “crush Putin,” the former tycoon said. And defeated, the Russian president would likely lose his control over the country. “Russian society is deeply damaged by propaganda,” he asserted. “But support for the war should not be overestimated,” he adds.
Only about 30 percent of Russians support the war, Khodorkovsky said, while another 50 percent simply “don’t want to question the orders.” “But if Putin were to face a military defeat, everyone would turn against him. And he knows it”, concludes the president of the NGO Open Russia.
