The Russian magazine The New Times interviewed the former Minister of Finance, Alexei Kudrin. During the conversation with The New Times’ Editor in Chief, Yevgenia Albats, and journalists Zoya Svetova and Boris Yunanov, Kudrin referred to the release of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. An excerpt of the interview is translated below:

Why do you think President Putin decided to pardon Mikhail Khodorkovsky?

I think that the motivation was to resolve the issue with minimal losses.

But throughout 2013 the siloviki were threatening with the ‘third case’?

Perhaps, it would have been possible to file the third case, but it would have been difficult to prove, and it is unlikely that the filed case would have been perceived in the world as proof. In addition, the President expressed his doubts about the case during one of his appearances. This means that Putin was informed. I think that he resolved this problem wisely enough, for the country, for himself, and for Khodorkovsky.

Khodorkovsky’s version is that Putin, by releasing him, sent a message to the siloviki that they have gone too far…

For me, this is unlikely.

The court in The Hague, in June is set to rule on the claim of Yukos’ minority shareholders against the Russian Federation for $100 billion – to what extent could this prospect have affected the decision to pardon Khodorkovsky?

I don’t think that the court in The Hague is subject to such political influence.

Do you believe Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s words that he will not get involved in politics and will not fight for Yukos assets?

Yes, he certainly will not.

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