From the Russian television channel TV Rain:

Anastasia Khodorkovskaya: ‘I dream about my reunited family – about my father’s return…’

Since Khodorkovsky and Lebedev’s first trial, we have seen several developments including protests to free both men, and the second trial, which saw the date of release delayed by several years.. Life has continued and the children of both Khodorkovsky and Lebedev have grown up… They have their own lives and their own opinions on what happened then and what is happening now. Anastasia Khodorkovskaya, the daughter of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was 14 years old when her father was arrested. In this interview to the Russian TV channel, she speaks about her father, the protests and her dreams.

Anastasia does not remember the day of her father’s arrest; she can only remember the raw emotional impact… She was too young to be allowed into the court during the first trial, all she could do was to grab his hand for a few short seconds before she was thrown out of the chamber.

Now she visits Mikhail Khodorkovsky once every three months. ‘Usually our meetings start with questions about my studies, my exams; naturally he is always interested in my friendships and relationships… It would be too much for him to have a second grandson’ – she narrates. ‘I try to ask as much as I can about politics, because I know that he understands it well’.

Anastasia explains that it is typical of Khodorkovsky’s parenting to teach his children, without wasting time on fairy tales; he tries to teach them how to live and survive in today’s world – ‘It have always been like this and it will remain so.

‘I feel hurt that my father is in this situation which he cannot get out of. My brothers and I are growing up, studying… It is hard that our lives are progressing and at the same time, our father is not with us… It is very hard, but I understand that he did what he did because of his own priorities, not for nothing’ – states Khodorkovsky’s daughter.

‘There are a lot of people imprisoned for no reason. The support, the protests which demand “Freedom to political prisoners!” make me happy. Because nothing and no one is forgotten, the people are aware of what is happening, they stopped being ignorant. More and more people form their own opinion about the situation in Russia. To my mind, that is very important’ – says Anastasia.

She believes that these protests should indicate some kind of movement in people’s minds, as people have actually started to physically move in protest. Prior to recent protests there was a lot of talking and people were coming just to listen and to show support, which was good for those who wanted to establish their position, whether they are for, against, or neutral – ‘my position is simple – my father is in prison… And I understand who is involved and what happened’.
Anastasia concludes with her wishes for the future – ‘I dream about reunited family – about my father’s return. I dream about creating my own family and hope for good relations between everyone’.