NEWSWATCH: “Mikhail Khodorkovsky Is Putin’s Most Powerful Enemy (in Exile). Russia may not be ready for the ex-billionaire to return, but his arguments are gaining ground.”
… the Open Russia Foundation …. basically represents the brains and money behind the Russian opposition [and recently] held an event at its headquarters … in London. … predictions for Russia’s future seemed to grow darker by the minute. * * * On the back row of the rather thin audience, the foundation’s sponsor, exiled Russian tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovksy – in torn jeans – was busy reading an e-book. Only once did the host of the event peer up …
* * * ‘I plan to return to the country; I will come back as soon as the regime begins to fall apart,’ Khodorkovsky told The Daily Beast …. ‘And now I am doing a lot, everything I can, to arrange it so that when this regime begins to fall, the collapse happens in a different way ….
* * * The most recent survey by the Levada Center shows that Khodorkovsky … is the most famous opposition figure in Russia: 45 percent of Russians know his name. About the same percentage, 47 percent of the population, approved of Putin’s decision to let Khodorkovsky out of jail ….
[featured image is file photo from earlier year and occasion]