Newsletters / Mikhail Khodorkovsky: Putin is the enemy of humankind
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
When Vladimir Putin launched his unprovoked, criminal invasion of Ukraine, he shot himself in one foot. When he threatened to use nuclear weapons, he blew off the other. His regime has chosen a path of self-liquidation. The only question is how much damage it will do before its demise.
Putin’s war of aggression is a crime against Ukraine and a crime against humanity. But it is also a crime against the Russian people. The regime starves Russians of information and feeds them lies. It tells them this is not a war but a “military operation”. It tells them we are fighting “Nazis and drug addicts”, even as its bombs drop on the site of Babyn Yar. While Putin’s forces bombard innocent Ukrainian civilians, we need to bombard Russians with the truth. When the news breaks through that Russian boys are being sent to their deaths in their thousands to murder our Ukrainian brothers and sisters, then the regime’s position becomes untenable.
We need to start imagining a future without Putin. When I see my fellow countrymen taking to the streets to protest against the war in Ukraine, I believe that future is close at hand. But we will only see it come to pass if right now – today and not tomorrow – every legal and financial tool in the arsenal is brought to bear against Putin, his regime and those complicit in its war crimes. History demands this of the west – for Ukrainians fighting heroically for their lives and for the Russians who risk theirs when they dare to speak out against Putin’s regime. And it demands it now.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky
The Guardian, March 3 2022
Selected Interviews and Publications
Channel 4 interview: “Mentally He [Putin] Is A Mafia Boss – A Don Corleone”
Sky News ‘Trevor Phillips On Sunday’ interview: Putin Is ‘In Fact Afraid’ Of A War
Speech: War with Ukraine is a crime under Russian law. I urge you to use every opportunity to oppose it
Statement: Aggressive War with Ukraine Is a Crime Under Russian Law. I Urge You to Do Everything You Can, Everyone in Your Place, To Stop The War!
Reuters interview: Kremlin critic Khodorkovsky urges Russians: stop Putin’s Ukraine war
The Times Interview: Mikhail Khodorkovsky: ‘I thought Putin was a new type of leader but he’s a madman’
Statement of The Anti-War Committee of Russia
A video message to the Russians: “If you think it’s right for the citizens of the neighboring country to not get killed per this man’s wish – stand against him.”
Bild interview: Putin tötet in Eurem Namen
Mail Online Interview: ‘Putin believed he’d be received in Ukraine with flowers’
CNN Interview: ‘Enemy of humankind’: Ex-Russian oligarch speaks out about Putin
France 24 Interview: By invading Ukraine Putin “committed political suicide.”
Statement: The Russian Anti-War Committee
The Guardian op-ed: History Demands The West Deploy Every Legal And Financial Weapon Against Putin
Bilan Interview: Invasion de l’Ukraine – «Le blocus financier doit être total et cela jusqu’à la fin de la guerre»
Business Insider Interview
Tvpworld Interview: Putin resorts to army’s strength to oppose society
Newsmax TV Interview: Former oligarch who stood up to Putin speaks out | ‘Eric Bolling The Balance’
ORF-TVthek Interview: Kreml-Kritiker Chodorkowski zu Putins Position
Bloomberg Interview: ‘No Doubt’ Russia Will See Regime Change: Khodorkovsky
