Staunton, September 22 – The West
bears part of the blame for the crisis in Ukraine, Mikhail Khodorkovsky says,
because its pursuit of “so-called ‘Realpolitik’” has convinced Vladimir Putin
that “he and his entourage can do anything they want” and thus made the situation
worse rather than better by encouraging Putin to become even more aggressive.
In an interview published in “Der
Spiegel,” the former Yukos head and longtime political prisoner said, however,
that most of the blame for what has happened falls on what he calls “the
irresponsible policy” of the Kremlin leader who refuses to accept that Ukraine
has a right to make its own choices (rufabula.com/news/2014/09/21/useless-realpolitik).
In a second interview, given to
Madrid’s “El Pais,” Khodorkovsky said that in his view, the Putin regime is
nearing its end. He said that he was nonetheless “a pessimist” about the exact
time because it could be “between two years if he makes mistake and 20” if he
doesn’t. Khodorkovsky said he hopes
Putin will make mistakes and thus be removed.
He added that civil society in
Russia “has not disappeared although Putin has done everything he can to repress
and divide those who are oriented toward Europe.” At the same time, the exiled
leader said that he doesn’t feel any personal hostility to Putin: “for me, he
is an opponent, with whom it will be interesting to compete,” Khodorkovsky
continued.
And in a third interview, this one
with the French newspaper “Le Monde” on Saturday, he indicated that he just
might do that: he said he did “not exclude” the possibility that he will become
president of Russia if “this will be needed to overcome the crisis and to carry
out constitutional reform.
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