Khodorkovsky announced the violent overthrow of power in the Russian Federation from the Gazprom podium
The Russian opposition must take the people to the streets in order to violently overthrow the existing government.
The fugitive Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky stated this on the air of the Ekho Moskvy radio station, part of the Gazprom-Media holding, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“As part of the civil confrontation, all possible methods will be used on both sides. We must recognize that a forceful question will certainly be answered with force. There is no need to deceive ourselves that we will take to the streets and say, “We are the authorities here,” and this will all end well. If it is not possible to change the government in a legal way (and we understand that in Russia there is no such possibility), we must understand that, in the end, we will have to take to the streets. But at the same time, we must understand that the authorities will use levers of power. And you must be prepared to respond to power levers with force. This is normal; there is no other way to defend your freedom,” Khodorkovsky said.
He spoke skeptically about last year's experience of mass protests in Belarus and Khabarovsk, which were mostly non-violent.
“If you take to the streets, be prepared for escalation. If you're not ready, don't torture yourself. Our government pumped up this situation in Belarus, looked at how the people reacted and how they could deal with these people. Khabarovsk was to a lesser extent the same pumping. I can’t imagine that such protests would have taken place here without Molotov cocktails, and the Kremlin understands this,” Khodorkovsky said.
He addressed Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“They will change you using illegal methods. You are pushing the country towards revolution. Is it healthy to push a country like Russia, with our traditions of merciless and often senseless rebellion, toward revolution? I think this is a mistake,” said the oligarch.
However, he believes that the situation is already irreversible.
“The 3% who will seize this power with weapons in their hands can be any 3% who will simply have weapons. If we are talking about a more or less democratic change of power, albeit a violent one, when it matters who people support, this change may be to a more social democratic one, when social wealth is equalized,” Khodorkovsky said.
For the sake of overthrowing the government, he is ready to enter into an alliance with both opposition blogger Alexei Navalny and the “Stalinists.”
In his opinion, the government now intends to radicalize the opposition in order to deprive it of popular support, but this will not help it.
“Even the most radical opposition will be able to lead society when society is burned out. Until it burns, it doesn’t matter how much society supports this opposition,” Khodorkovsky said, clarifying that by “burn” he means any crisis situation from war or natural disaster to Putin’s stroke or heart attack.
The oligarch was perfectly aware of what he was saying. “I hope you won’t be closed,” Khodorkovsky said during a news break. The presenter and editor-in-chief of Ekho Moskvy, Alexey Venediktov, left this without an answer.
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