Mikhail Khodorkovsky commented on social media on the recent poisoning of Alexei Navalny:

“The poisoning of Alexei Navalny has absolutely nothing to do with the indecisive upcoming September elections. Moreover, there’s no need to link this to the State Duma elections in 2021 either. It is too far ahead, and although the tactic of ‘smart voting’ can create problems for officials, as we’ve seen previously in the Moscow State Duma, these problems are quite solvable.

We’ve observed how this is absolutely normal for the government to carry out these ‘distractions’ or to ‘fight fire with fire’.

Belarus will face a crucial battle over the weekend to free the country from the Lukashenko gang. The risks are huge, not just for the “Punisher”, but also for the Kremlin’s landlord. A victory for the protestors would set great expectations in Russia.

That is why Putin, despite hating Lukashenko, is forced to help him grip on power.

Moreover, whilst helping, Putin has got to take into account the risks that come with tough measures. With the US elections around the corner, if there’s blood on the streets of Minsk, because of the Kremlin’s intervention, then it will result in the defeat of the ‘party of Putin lovers’ in the American establishment. This “party”, the same one that came up with the idea of repeating the backstory of the 1970s when Henry Kissinger split the Soviet-Chinese bloc, is now promising to invite the autocrat (Putin) to the “club of leaders of democratic states”. Only if it was China that was split off in the 70s, it is now Russia that is supposed to be split off.

Khodorkovsky: The poisoning of @navalny is a classic 'distraction' method.@vkaramurza went through this ordeal, twice.
After sending in the military and civilian propagandists into Belarus, it's logical of the regime to carry this out, on the eve of an operation. https://t.co/iFJXzUDkPC

— Khodorkovsky Center (@mbk_center) August 20, 2020

This idea was initially doomed, since China was searching for a new market in the US, whereas our country (Russia), needs technologies that the US is not ready to provide, and which Putin’s servants are not able to accept.

The prospect of this idea being a failure will not put off the owner of the Kremlin from using ‘useful idiots’ to ease pressure on himself and his surrounding environment. So this is precisely what could be hindered if there is excessive force used whilst suppressing the protest.

This is why the propagandists and their colleagues from the FSB, who specialize in preventing such large-scale protests, were flown into Minsk. It’s also why, since the day before yesterday, we’ve been hearing from Belarus, “Russian reports” regarding ‘cooperation’ with the potential protestors.

So in order to have our attention diverted to what’s going on (in Belarus), we’ve got this special operation. This isn’t attempted murder- Tomsk isn’t Salisbury in this regard. There are no complications needed for murder- Nemtsov’s murder was enough.

This is a special operation to distract attention.

Well, it’s a warning too!

The torment that Alexei is going through, and his loved ones; the possibility of a death, is ‘an acceptable risk’, or a ‘side effect’.”

I really hope that Alexei will cope with the inevitable consequences for his health, and wish for his family strength.

As usual, the Kremlin did not consider the consequences. The reputation of poisoners is dangerous (to put it mildly). We’ve got to understand that there will be no peaceful transition of power.
We must either come to terms with the country’s lack of any future, or be prepared for a real fight.

And of course, we can’t afford to let the Kremlin quietly strangle Belarus either.