The Former Richest Man In Russia Details What It Would Take To Overthrow Putin And Stop The War In Ukraine
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, (born June 26, 1963, Moscow, Russia, U.S.S.R.), Russian oil tycoon and, at one time, the richest man in Russia, who was imprisoned in 2003 on charges of fraud and tax evasion. He was convicted of those crimes and others before being released in 2013.
After the fall of communism in 1991, Khodorkovsky made a fortune trading in foreign currency and commodities, but his biggest successes involved the acquisition of assets formerly owned by the Soviet government. Throughout the early 1990s Menatep and its spin-off holding company Rosprom purchased controlling interest in dozens of industrial concerns across Russia. In 1995 Menatep acquired Yukos, Russia’s second largest oil company, in a privatization auction for some $350 million. Although Menatep did not offer the highest bid, it nevertheless won the auction. This can be explained by the fact that Menatep also oversaw the bidding process and that the highest bid, placed by a consortium of Russian banks, was disqualified on a questionable technicality.
As head of Yukos, Khodorkovsky became, for a time, the wealthiest person in Russia, and he was one of the most visible members of a group of shoot-from-the-hip industrialists and financiers dubbed “the oligarchs.”
What an interview with some real insight from someone who would certainly know. The structure of Russia is fascinating. For years, I've heard about how much influence these oligarchs have. The oligarchs are who and what drives Putin and his quest to restore Russia to its old USSR days. Well, the former top Oligarch in the land disagrees. He says that they are all just Putin's puppets and are no more valuable for his motives than the cleaning staff who mop his floors. That's saying something.
He's also calling for more sanctions, a no-fly zone, and the complete freezing of every foreign currency going in and out of Russia. If that happens, we are in for a world of hurt across the globe but what the citizens of Russia would feel in terms of their economy would be devasting. But, the Russian castoff also says that the economic pain that Russians feel shouldn't matter because of what they are doing to Ukraine. Hard to argue with that.
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Putin could soon being dealing with a multi-front war. He will be dealing with the Ukrainians who arent packing down one inch. He will be dealing with the UN and NATO sanctions from nearly every other powerful nation on earth. He could be dealing with a coup on the horizon. Lastly, it has been reported that he will also be dealing with a famous sniper from Canada who has joined the fight in Ukraine. In two words, proper fucked.