Brussels, 03/12/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 2 December, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the Russian businessman, former prisoner of conscience and founder of the Open Russia civil society organisation, called on the European Union for an “intelligent, honest and differential” policy towards Russia. “More realism is needed. It needs to be understood that Russia and Putin are not the same thing”, he said, stating that the sanctions should be “honest and intelligent”.
While the European sanctions against Russia prevent Russia's President Vladimir Putin from being more aggressive, Khodorkovsky believed that it was a “serious political mistake to apply the sanctions against Russia as a country” as they affect ordinary citizens. In his view, the reasoning that 'if the Russian people live less well they will understand the character of the person they have elected' is “highly questionable”. He stated that the Kremlin's propaganda was using the argument of the sanctions in order to gather people around the regime. “It's important to be stricter with targeted sanctions against corrupt people, but science and cultural exchanges must be maintained (…) and further developed so as to enable Russia to turn more towards Europe”, he said.
Khodorkovsky also called on the EU to protect the Russian opposition more, which “is fighting for the Russian interest and for all of Europe” and which thus deserves Europe's attention. “The opposition is in a situation where it is dispersed. Its goal is not to come to power - for the moment that's unrealistic - but to oppose the reactionary forces that push the Kremlin down the current track”, he said.
Questioned about one of his statements that said Crimea should not be returned to Ukraine, Khodorkovsky said that there was “no doubt that the annexation of Crimea was illegal”. “But, at the same time, the majority of Russian citizens were in favour of this annexation. A balance needs to be found between respect for international law and the will of Russian citizens”, he said. (CG)