Khodorkovsky: Putin’s Russia fighting mean war against Ukraine

Russia is waging war which has become a shame of the current regime.

This statement was made by Mikhail Khodorkovsky, a former Yukos CEO, a founder of “Open Russia” project, when he delivered a keynote speech at a reception in the headquarters of a human rights organisation Freedom House in Washington, obozrevatel.com informs.

Speaking about the current situation in Russia, Khodorkovsky noted that behind the front of wellbeing it is hiding that the country had stopped to develop. Moreover, the clock has been put back in many respects: politically, economically, psychologically. No one should be misled by the quantity of goods in shops and the abundance of money in the hands of people. It’s not the merit of the regime, it’s functioning of the oil market

“But there is more than that. It turns out that the regime has not just robbed Russia. It is trying to place the whole world back, to the epoch of the Cold (or even hot) war, when disputes are resolved by force of arms, and priority is proved not by rate of economic growth, but by military aggression. Russia and the world have come to a very dangerous line, the Third World War is looming behind this line,” Khodorkovsky said.

“Fascism is war. Russia is fighting a real war already. Those who send heroes to die, not for the sake of national interests, not to defend their Fatherland, but in order to save power for a handful of plutocrats, who in this way are trying to extend life of the regime which is outdated already,” the politician stressed.

According to the former head of Yukos, return to European values, which form the foundation of the Euro-Atlantic civilization, mental and political one, is a starting point for a new policy, which could help Russia to escape the historical trap.

“Russia has only two paths – ahead to the post-industrial era, together with Europe, or back to the Middle Ages, and later to non-existence. To be with Europe does not mean to blend into Europe,” Khodorkovsky is convinced.