Mikhail Khodorkovsky

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Russian President Vladimir Putin is shown on a video screen during the Third Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Oct. 18. (Andy Wong/AP)

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In October 2003, Russian special forces stormed a plane in Siberia and arrested me. I spent the next 10 years imprisoned at the behest of Russian President Vladimir Putin on politically motivated, trumped-up charges. On Dec. 20, 2013, Putin released me — but he continues to hold Russia and the world hostage to this day.

Putin has transitioned from corrupt autocrat to expansionist fascist dictator, heralding a global rise in tyranny and populism and a more dangerous, less free world. Putin cannot be appeased. He must be defeated.

Within months of my release, during the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, Putin invaded Ukraine.…  Seguir leyendo »

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We live in an era when the resolve of democratic states is being tested in the most extreme ways. The fighting in Ukraine continues unabated after that democratic country was invaded by Vladimir Putin’s terrorist state. Now Israel has been forced into war following the barbaric massacre on October 7th of Israeli civilians by Hamas, a non-state terrorist actor backed by the terrorist state of Iran.

People with any concept of morality were horrified by Hamas’s cold-blooded murder of babies, women, young people at a music festival and the elderly, and by the group’s kidnapping of over 200 people, mostly civilians.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Yevgeny Prigozhin's attempted coup was, despite its failure, a seismic moment for Russia, laying bare President Vladmir Putin’s vulnerability. As the mutiny unfolded, I suggested that Russia’s democratic anti-war opposition should welcome the opportunity that it presented, not because Mr Prigozhin is our friend or ally—a thug and war criminal, he is anything but—but because Mr Putin’s fall can only be brought about by force.

This was only the second time that Mr Putin has faced a truly revolutionary moment, the first being the mass protests of 2011-13. Yet back then, the democratic opposition was unable to capitalise. We need to wake up to the fact that the fall of the Putin regime and the creation of a better Russia will not come about through the ballot box or other peaceful means but will require armed insurrection.…  Seguir leyendo »

Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg, Russia, January 2023. Ilya Pitalyov / Sputnik / Pool / Reuters

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The regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin is living on borrowed time. The tide of history is turning, and everything from Ukraine’s advances on the battlefield to the West’s enduring unity and resolve in the face of Putin’s aggression points to 2023 being a decisive year. If the West holds firm, Putin’s regime will likely collapse in the near future.

Yet some of Ukraine’s key partners continue to resist supplying Kyiv with the weapons it needs to deliver the knockout punch. The administration of U.S. President Joe Biden in particular seems afraid of the chaos that could accompany a decisive Kremlin defeat.…  Seguir leyendo »

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The coming of cold and wet weather on the Russian-Ukrainian front hinders the advancing side and helps the defending one, so the chances of large-scale movements look increasingly slim over the coming months. This static confrontation has rekindled the idea that talks with Vladimir Putin would be desirable. Not only has the eccentric Elon Musk spoken on the subject, but also the famous economist Jeffrey Sachs. The latter went furthest, saying that it was a mistake not to go along with Mr Putin’s conditions in March. Back then those conditions included demands that Ukraine recognise occupied territories as Russian, maintain a neutral status and demilitarise.…  Seguir leyendo »

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I HAVE BEEN fighting a personal war with Vladimir Putin for nearly 20 years. It led to my being jailed in Russia for ten years and then expelled, with a warning that life imprisonment awaited me if I ever returned. Do I know the man who did all this to me? I think I do. That is why I look with despair at the defeatist approach of Western leaders, such as Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron and Naftali Bennett.

It is difficult for me to judge how their actions are seen by their electorates. However, I know well how they are perceived by Mr Putin, sitting at the end of his long table.…  Seguir leyendo »

Vladimir V. Putin, a former K.G.B. lieutenant colonel, is just one in a long history of authoritarian Russian leaders. Credit Damon Winter/The New York Times

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More than 25 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union and the attempt to build a democracy in its place, Russia has once again become an authoritarian state. The same inability to build democratic institutions plagued the leaders of the February Revolution of 1917, which led to the Bolsheviks gaining power later that year.

Russian authoritarianism has profound consequences not just for Russian citizens, but also for neighboring countries and the rest of the world. Still burdened by a “besieged fortress” mentality, the Kremlin pursues a foreign policy aimed at achieving a “balance of forces” between Moscow and the West.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Ten years have gone by, 10 years — to the day — that I have spent in the jails, prisons and camps of the new Russia.

Much has changed. My oldest son now has his own baby daughter, who is not a baby any more — my first grandchild, whom I have never seen.

My youngest sons, whom I left as little four-year-old boys, are now taller than I am and on the threshold of adulthood. My daughter is close to graduating from college. My wife, who has been supporting me all these years, is alone at home now. My parents are already very old, and their health leaves much to be desired.…  Seguir leyendo »

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It is a busy year for presidential elections. While there will be hotly contested battles for the presidencies of France and the United States, only in my home country, Russia, does the outcome of the presidential election seem a foregone conclusion. But whereas we might be reasonably sure of the result, we should not assume that there is little at stake.

For Western eyes, the neat swap of titles from Prime Minister to President Vladimir Putin — suitably circumventing Russia’s maximum-two-consecutive-term rule — may appear to suggest business as usual in the closed world of Kremlin politics.

But that was not the view taken by many Russians who were insulted by the self-asserting proclamation of immovable presidential power stretching over the next decade and more.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Last month, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once the wealthiest man in Russia as head of the Yukos oil company, was found guilty of embezzlement and money laundering and sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Mr. Khodorkovsky, first arrested in October 2003, was already serving an eight-year sentence on charges of fraud. The new sentence includes the earlier one, so Mr. Khodorkovsky could remain in prison until 2017.

Both trials have been denounced as political in the West, where Mr. Khodorkovsky is widely seen as a victim of Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian rule. In Russia, many people still chafe at the vast wealth that a handful of “oligarchs” amassed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and view the prosecution of Mr.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Excerpts from the final statement by the former chairman of the Yukos oil company at the conclusion on Monday of his 20-month trial in Moscow on charges of embezzling oil from his own company. Translated by Stephan Lang.

Looking back, I can recall October 2003, my last day of freedom. A few weeks after my arrest, I was informed that President Putin had decided I would “slurp gruel” for eight years. Then it was hard to believe. Seven years have passed. Seven years — a long stretch of time, especially incarcerated. All of us have had time to reassess and rethink many things.…  Seguir leyendo »

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Last week I held my fourth hunger strike since being jailed on trumped-up charges in 2003. I did not do this to raise awareness of how my own legal case has been unfairly handled. The courts' actions have made it clear that I am going to be imprisoned no matter what. But Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who has taken the initiative to fight corruption in law enforcement in our country, should know how his efforts are being undercut by his own officials.

The rise of corruption leads me to an inescapable conclusion: While world leaders are proving capable of addressing nuclear terrorism, one of the most difficult issues facing the international community, they still must do more to address such evils as corruption, which holds entire peoples and countries hostage.…  Seguir leyendo »