“I Miss the Sun” - Khodorkovsky Speaks Out From His Cell

His career as a businessman is over; his career as a citizen continues. Mikhail Khodorkovsky gives his first interview from jail to Russian Newsweek.

Did you ever think that your imprisonment would last this long?

Yes. I honestly did, I warned my friends and family, they didn’t believe me. They thought I was showing off. Unfortunately, the duration of my imprisonment depends not on the court, but on several bureaucrats and businessmen who fear that I may start avenging my own hardships and Yuganskneftegaz.

Do you have any idea as to when you will be released?

I don’t know. Maybe when the authorities only have their power, and the courts are independent, not a mechanism for redistributing property. Maybe this year, maybe never.

Why did the authorities view it as necessary to arrest you?

At the end of October 2003 President Putin was misinformed that I was planning to become the Senator of Evenkia (East Siberia), which would grant me immunity. So I was seized on a Saturday morning in a plane in Novosibirsk. I was indeed going to Evenkia, to support my friend Vassilii Shakhnovskii’s election to the Federation Council. Everyone knows this now.

In addition, I think that it was important for the organizers of the attack on Yukos to cross a metaphorical “red line”, forcing themselves and everyone else to play to the bitter end, so to speak. That’s why I was jailed.

Do you agree with a statement that your imprisonment is the Kremlin’s revenge for your increasingly active political role, including your attempts to introduce your people into the parliament?

That’s part of it. Personally, I am in favor of a strong state, but I am convinced that the power of the state should be located not in the multitude and authority of its bureaucrats. Instead, it should be in the people’s trust toward the government, in the government’s ability of solving society’s problems by attracting and consolidating the nation’s best brains, in a system of institutional and social checks and balances.

I’ve supported various political parties and institutions because I am convinced that our country needs to allow for more than one point of view, it needs a strong and independent political opposition.

However, at this point I am sure that the main reason behind the Yukos affair was the desire of four or five people to gain control over a large and successful oil company. Politics was just an excuse to persuade the government to hit back with property redistribution by any means necessary, including those that are unlawful. In the previous decade we regularly witnessed similar attacks, but never directed against such a large corporation. Such high-ranking officials have never been instruments in these attacks before either.

What is your conclusion? Is this an example of your inflexibility and adherence to principles regarding the authorities, or is this a consequence of a series of mistakes in your business and public work?

Both. With fewer mistakes, more people would understand and trust me. But I still hope to gain their confidence. If it weren’t for my principles, I would be somewhere abroad or in the relevant bureaucrats’ offices, not in jail. I didn’t want to, and in any case I couldn’t. Perhaps before I may have, but at some point I started feeling more like a citizen than a businessman.

It’s harder to speak from a prison, but I am better heard this way. From abroad I would only be seen as an oligarch, squandering his wealth and casually discussing Russia’s destiny between the sauna and tennis sessions. It is physically more difficult for me to speak, but morally, I have a right to do so.

Two years ago you were saying that the State Duma needs to approve not only the appointment of the prime minister, but also his dismissal. Do you still believe that today?

It’s a much broader question. Our country needs a concept of a new political system. This concept still has to be developed. It seems to me that the president should position himself above all political battles as a guarantor of national stability. If the government, responsible for the country’s economy and administration, is formed by parliamentary majority, the duration of the presidential term would not be such an issue. The head of state would then play the role of political arbitrator and be responsible for appointing a number of judges, the prosecutor general, the heads of the special forces.

Many people today criticise the concentration of political power in the hands of one man. But we are forgetting that this concentration is a direct product of the 1993 Constitution, written under pressure of short-term political factors. And I hope we don’t change our political system again simply to conform to someone’s petty conjectural aspirations.

What is your opinion of the Kremlin’s new political reforms, such as the presidential appointment of governors and deputies only being elected according to party lists?

The intention of the authorities is to turn all politicians into appointees thereby freezing the ruling class, making it impenetrable for outsiders. This will invariably lead to stagnation. We already saw what happened to the ruling elite in a similar process during the 1980s, and today’s Russia is even more unstable than the USSR of that time. I think these reforms are dangerous. They may lead to a situation where the only way for people to complain is through revolt, a meaningless and merciless revolt. Would the authorities be able to suppress it? I am not sure.

Do you still think that big business has to repent for its mistakes in the eyes of the people?

Yes. This concerns not only big business, but the entire ruling corporation that is responsible for making the market reforms of the 1990’s completely antisocial, undermining people’s trust in liberal values and ideas. Yesterday’s and today’s bureaucracy, which are interrelated, whatever anyone says, should not assume that an apology from business frees it from responsibility for it’s mistakes.

Have you tried to reach an agreement with the authorities about the conditions of your freedom? Not through solicitation of your lawyers, but through talks with those controlling the investigation and the trial?

I have repeatedly and openly offered my shares of Yukos to the authorities. Not as a ransom for my freedom: I was hoping that by gaining my shares, those who are interested in Yukos would not destroy the company, leaving hundreds of thousands of Yukos employees jobless and hopeless. Yet these people’s fates have been sacrificed to someone’s selfish interests, oriented on Yuganskneftegaz. I mentally said goodbye to the company in spring 2004. That Yukos managers and employees continue to work defiantly marks them out not only as professionals, but as heroes. I feel sorry for the people who have been arrested and forced to make false statements, for the people who were forced to leave the country, and for the people who keep fighting despite everything.

What was the extent of your control over the company’s actions all this time? What are the prospects of the bankruptcy case started in Texas? Will the shareholders’ lawsuits affect the buyer of Yuganskneftegaz?

After my arrest I understood that the business would be taken away, but I could never even imagine that that would happen with the destruction of the company. Being in jail, it’s hard to interpret the situation adequately enough to continue managing it. As you know, I resigned as a Yukos board member. The company’s managers and the board of directors are responsible to the stockholders, so they are doing whatever is necessary to avoid any future complaints, especially from minority shareholders. The same goes for the directors of Menatep, where I held 9.5% and was beneficiary of 50%. Today this has also gone to other shareholders. Those that remain free may have changed something, but the directors are still independent, and are acting in the interest of all stockholders, according to the law.

As one of the Yukos shareholders, Menatep has repeatedly declared its intention to sue both the legal entities responsible for the so-called auction and the companies dealing with the ownership of Yuganskneftegaz. Personally, I am not planning to chase after any sums from the company or the state.

If you could address President Putin right now, what would you tell him?

Mister President, don’t let political power be devaluated and profaned. Don’t let it become a tool for property repartition in the interests of bureaucracy. This will only aggravate the problems of the 1990s.

What are your plans after liberation? Will you remain in Russia?

I don’t want to leave. I don’t see myself as a businessman anymore, I think that stage of my life has come to an end. However, I would like to continue with my educational and social projects through the “Open Russia” foundation, with my university project. I hope I can do this.

What do you do when not dealing with your lawyers and the court?

I read books, trying to stay in shape intellectually. I get many books, so I read a lot. I get stacks of newspapers, magazines, but sometimes I would rather not know or hear any news… I answer letters, people write me often, both from Russia and from abroad. There are almost no “bad” letters, everyone is empathetic, some people ask for help. I cannot exercise much; there is not enough room and only one hourly walk allowed daily.

Who are your neighbors in jail?

There are different people in jail, everyone has their problems, but so far I have found common language with everyone.

Are you satisfied with the conditions?

Well, it’s a closely confined cell, the conditions are tough. But there are pluses in a high security jail: the cell is 12 square meters, a few neighbors, a refrigerator, a television. The monthly meetings through a glass screen are especially hard. I miss my family — my wife, children, parents. I am very sorry for them. And I miss the sun.

(From MosNews, 31.01.2005)