Khodorkovsky plots out a long game: a post-Putin Russia
LONDON — He once was Russia’s richest man, and then for 10 years its most famous prisoner. Now Mikhail Khodorkovsky wants to try a new mantle: godfather of Russian democracy.
Khodorkovsky is playing a long game, looking well past the Russian presidential election on March 18 that is guaranteed to give President Vladimir Putin yet another six-year term.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press ahead of the vote, Khodorkovsky warned that U.S. and European Union sanctions against Russia are fueling Putin’s domestic agenda instead of hurting him, and predicted more ugly Russian-U.S. relations in Putin’s next term.
“For him and for those he represents, America is only good as an enemy,” Khodorkovsky said.