Khodorkovsky Would Never Leave Russia — Mother

A year after Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s arrest, his mother Marina Khodorkovskaya told the Izvestia daily that over the past twelve months her son had not changed very much, “except that he has lost some weight”.

More than a year ago, when Khodorkvosky’s colleague Platon Lebedev was arrested in the framework of the Yukos affair, many said that it would be better for the company’s CEO to leave the country. “He wouldn’t even hear of that,” Marina Khodorkovskaya told Izvestia.

She said, she had learnt of his arrest from a relative and waited for several weeks before she was allowed to see her son in prison. “I worried very much, prepared a long list of questions,” she said. “A woman — a female ward in Matrosskaya Tishina [prison] saw that list and said: ”Let me answer those questions for you, so that you don’t waste time, when you see him.“

”And so, while I waited, she told me about his meals and conditions in the cell. I was very much afraid of seeing Misha despondent, broken. But when I looked him in the eye, I knew, everything was fine. He said, mom, I feel fine, don’t you worry. But, of course, I understand that the first days were the hardest for him.“

Marina Khodorkovskaya said that her son has not changed over the past months. His daughter Nastya, 12, misses him very much and visited him several times in prison. Her younger brothers are too small to understand what is happening.

According to Khodorkovskaya, most of her family’s friends and acquaintances have not changed their attitude towards them after Mikhail’s arrest, instead showing understanding and compassion for them, which cannot be said of some of his former partners.

”Most interestingly, those, whom Misha had considered his good friends, whom he had often met, suddenly stopped calling. At the same time, those who had not been as close began calling, offering help,“ she said. ”Misha understands that this is life, and not all people are perfect.“

Khodorkovskaya complained that the prison building is rather cold and dilapidated, but that the prison employees are quite polite. Not all the letters reach the detainees. ”But Misha once told me that things were worse in the pioneer camp. The freedom of movement was just as restricted, but we did not receive parcels twice a week, he said.“

Mikhail told her he tries to move a lot, even though the cell is small. His cell mates spend most of the time on their beds, and that is why he has enough space.

According to Khodorkovskaya, her son understands that it makes no sense to make any predictions about the future. Even the hearings into his case are somewhat unpredictable.

”Many witnesses of the prosecution make statements the defense team could not even dream about. On Thursday, for example, the former deputy director of Apatit, Vladimir Seryogin, testified. And he said how bad things were before Misha came, and how the situation improved afterwards. [Prosecutor] Shokhin says, ’But he fired you!’ And he [Seryogin] says, ’And that was right, they are all young and for us it was time to retire anyway.’ Misha told me once that he leaves each session in a good mood.“

Izvestia noted that while Khodorkovsky was in prison, Putin won the presidential election with the support of the majority of voters. Khodorkovskaya says her son’s attitude towards that is ”highly philosophical“.

”He understands that Putin will remain in power as long as the people want it. And he understands that people like himself will be divested of their property and thrown in prison as long as this is what the majority wants. He understands that he is not the last. He sees the authorities making grave mistakes, but understands that it happens because the people want that to happen,“ she says.

When he is discharged he will no longer engage in business, she says. Nor will he go into politics. Mikhail has always told me that he would like to devote himself to charitable and educational activities, she said.

(From Moscow News, 25.10.2004)