Putin is a typical bandit / GORDON

The Russian businessman, opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky, in an interview with the founder of the GORDON publication, Dmitry Gordon, called Russian President Vladimir Putin “a typical bandit.”

“He is a typical bandit, a typical breeder. I have seen quite a few such bandits. He is a smart bandit. This is his difference. And like all intelligent bandits, he is pragmatic and, in a sense, sentimental and, in a sense, understandable. “. Khodorkovsky said.

He added that “Putin is not a monster.”

“[Экс-президент США Барак] Obama described it very correctly, by the way, in his book … This is the first time that a major Western leader has very precisely defined the essence of Putin and his regime. This is a gang of gangsters that came to power in the Kremlin. And you can’t consider them like anyone else. He’s not a bastard. He is a bandit, not a monster. It has bright sides, dark sides, “Khodorkovsky said.

Khodorkovsky: Kuchma at night with all his nonsense stabbed me with a knife, dripping blood, damn it. Then he said, “I wanted to gouge out one eye. Read the full interview

Khodorkovsky in 1997-2004 was a co-owner of the Russian oil company Yukos. In 2004, according to the Russian magazine Forbes, with a fortune of 15.2 billion dollars, he was the richest businessman in Russia.

In 2003, Russian law enforcement officers opened a criminal case against Yukos for tax evasion, and that same year, Khodorkovsky and his partner Platon Lebedev were arrested. The entrepreneurs were sentenced to nine years in prison (later the court reduced their sentences to eight years), and the YUKOS company went through bankruptcy and was liquidated in 2007.

In 2009, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev received new charges in the second YUKOS case – the theft of shares in the subsidiaries of the oil company with the subsequent legalization of part of the money. In 2010, they were sentenced to 14 years in prison (then the terms were reduced to 11 years).

In December 2013, Russian President Vladimir Putin pardoned Khodorkovsky, immediately after his release, the businessman left Russia and now lives with his family in the UK. In general, Khodorkovsky spent 10 years behind bars. Now, several more criminal cases are being investigated against him in the Russian Federation, in particular the so-called third YUKOS case (on theft of oil and legalization of stolen property to obtain funds from its sale), as well as the case of the murder of the Mayor of Nefteyugansk in 1998. Khodorkovsky does not admit guilt in the crimes for which he was charged.