WASHINGTON—Former Russian oil tycoon and prominent critic of the Kremlin Mikhail Khodorkovsky looks forward to the day when Vladimir Putin and the political elite that is empowered with him are gone. He advises in the meantime that the United States and the West in general not make the same mistakes it made in the 1990s in their halfhearted efforts to transition Russia into a democratic, economically modernized state.
Khodorkovsky spoke at the Atlantic Council on June 17, on Russia’s Strategic Interest with the West, to an audience that appeared to be mostly Russian.
“Sooner or later, the current system will collapse, and this is something we have to prepare for now. The West needs to establish the closest possible cooperation with Europe-oriented Russians, and to set up mechanisms for our country’s rapid reintegration into the global system after the regime changes. We are not going to have a big window of opportunity,” he said, speaking in his native Russian.
Khodorkovsky believes that in 2011–2012, the Russian people were on the cusp of evolving into a democracy, and had had enough of “authoritarian, retrograde leadership.” He based this observation on the growing discontent of the middle class and mass protests. The political leadership retained its power by massive propaganda, “pandering to the dark instincts of the crowds crackdowns on demonstrations, and political persecutions,” he said.
