Khodorkovsky Could Provide Moral Leadership to Russian Opposition
Lyudmila Alekseyeva, Moscow Helsinki Group head, has said that Mikhail Khodorkovsky could likely become the future moral leader of the Russian opposition reports BBC. Alekseyeva said:
“Years of imprisonment, strange as it may sound, have not passed for him without leaving a trace. He matured intellectually and morally. No doubt, Khodorkovsky has moral influence in society and will be able to become a consolidating figure,” adding that percecution has made Khodorkovsky a “leader of public sentiments.”
However, BBC reports that Eduard Limonov, leader of the unregistered Other Russia party, does not agree with Alexseyeva’s opinion that Khodorkovsky will assume leadership of the the entire Russian opposition following his release. He says,
“I can believe that he may be released from prison. The authorities may make this gesture. Anyway, this gesture could only be welcomed. Khodorkovsky, certainly, will become a moral leader of the liberal opposition. There is no doubt about it. With this amount of moral suffering, he, no doubt, will become a moral leader of the liberal opposition. Part of the Russian people -yes, but not all the people. I am confident about this.”
On 28 March Khodorkovsky’s son Pavel told Russian Dozhd TV that his father could provide moral leadership to the opposition if he is released, according to BBC. He said:
“Some time will pass, a year or two, half a year ago I thought that it would take five years, and new parties and platforms will emerge for which people will be able to vote. I do not rule out that if my father is released in two or three years, he may become this moral leader. I fairly directly link my father’s release with protest sentiments in society, which have recently begun to develop.”
