After crossing the red line

In the maelstrom of political tensions, many Ukrainians inevitably find themselves compelled to forget the meaning and lessons of instructive events that happened in the not too distant past (one can understand it, but is unlikely to fully justify such development). There is a “vague feeling,” telling us that something like that happened somewhere, sometime before, but where and when specifically it did happen, is hard to remember at once; indeed, many surprising events happen around us daily... Still, we will try to remember it.

It was fall 2003. A truly sensational event occurred in the top rungs of the Russian political and economic elite: nationally prominent oligarch, owner of oil and gas company YUKOS Mikhail Khodorkovsky was accused of corruption and tax evasion. Almost immediately, the report came in of the arrest of the oligarch (of course, Khodorkovsky, with his billions of dollars, was exactly that!). Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation and the Federal Security Service of Russia immediately made deliberately tough comments, the meaning of which boiled down to the following simple statement: this case had not and could not have anything to do with politics, it was only and exclusively part of the fight against corruption, and the Russian law-enforcement officers were absolutely not interested as they fought this fight which party, political grouping or business faction one or the other accused belonged to. The only important thing was allegedly the fact that Khodorkovsky broke the law, his actions had a corruption component to them, and he had to be brought to account for it.

As we know, there was a “fair trial,” and former owner of YUKOS received a long prison sentence on “non-political” charges. President Vladimir Putin “pardoned” him in 2013. The longer the period of time separating us from those events, the more questionable their protagonists’ behavior looks.

And the chief of these questions is simple: why exactly was Khodorkovsky arrested? Were there political reasons for it? Of course, the hero of our narrative never was a nice man. On the contrary, his past is ambiguous to say the least. But already in 2003 (and already sotto voce, to avoid annoying the master of the Kremlin), and even more so later on, people who knew the details of the case and were even minimally honest, recognized: Khodorkovsky was imprisoned exactly for political reasons. Specifically, for beginning to fund (and fund abundantly and systematically) the political opposition to Putin. More specifically, for the fact that he dared say in the eye to the Boss during his private meeting with the “most successful people of Russia”: “corruption is what is happening around you, personally you.” He met a brutal punishment for these words.

Sometimes, it is useful to recall what happened (not here, God forbid!) some 12  years ago. Maybe, we will draw essential conclusions. Will we?