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Former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky has warned against further sanctions on Moscow for its role in Ukraine’s current crisis. In an interview with the BBC, he said Europe risked playing into the hands of nationalists trying to isolate Russia. Instead, he urged EU leaders to help Ukraine become more stable, saying this could encourage change in Russia.
Mr. Khodorkovsky was Russia’s richest businessman until he fell out with the Kremlin and spent 10 years in prison. He has taken a keen interest in the crisis in Ukraine since being released and sent into exile abroad at the end of last year. Mr. Khodorkovsky told the BBC that Ukraine had entered a “slow burn civil war” but he said he did not believe Russian President Vladimir Putin was planning to invade eastern Ukraine.
Mr. Putin had “lost control” of events in Russia’s neighbor, Mr. Khodorkovsky said, citing the Kremlin’s recent inability to stop a referendum by pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk. But he said Europe’s reaction to events in Ukraine threatened to exacerbate renewed Russian nationalism, stirred up by the Russian president’s annexing of Crimea. Mr. Khodorkovsky argues that EU leaders should avoid further sanctions on Moscow and concentrate their efforts on encouraging political reform in Kiev. Russia could become even more authoritarian, he says, if the situation in Ukraine deteriorates and allows Mr. Putin to exploit a power vacuum in the country.
The BBC’s Bridget Kendall in Moscow says Mr. Khodorkovsky is not without his critics. He was seen by many Russians as one of the hated class of oligarchs, who made their fortunes in semi-legal circumstances in the chaotic years following the Soviet Union’s collapse. But his arrest and long years of incarceration turned him from Russia’s richest oil tycoon into the country’s most famous political opponent of President Putin, our correspondent says.
Vladimir in Love
Russian president Vladimir Putin does have a soft spot: Mother Russia. The West continues to have a knee-jerk reaction of vilifying and demonizing the man. This is a huge disservice to the American people and Western world. If we continue to judge him based on assumptions, how will we ever understand the man behind Russia?
President Barack Obama during a bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Pete Souza/White House
KGB. Those three letters seem to define Putin’s entire existent. Yes, he spent 16 years as a KGB officer, including working in Dresden when the Berlin Wall came tumbling down. However, Putin’s personality—a cross between strategic and reactionary—originates from the sport of judo. As a child, he began in the sport; he practiced hard and earned the title of judo master. This sport requires strict discipline. Unlike the other martial arts, it’s seen as street fighting. One opponent makes a move, and the other must react quickly and strategically. There’s grappling, hair pulling, tugging; it’s not for the faint of heart. In other words, to excel in judo, one must be tough, resilient, strategic, and reactionary at the same time. Sound like someone we know?
Of course, all judo masters don’t act the way Putin does. That’s where the KGB comes in. The training is intense. Showers set to the exact temperature and learning how to imitate others’ facial expresses and gestures in order to break them down is just a taste of how KGB officers are trained. Training plus sixteen years in the field, combined with judo, turned Putin into a super disciplined human being. Like a robot.
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