For those who do are not familiar Khodorkovsky was the richest man in Russia in 2003. Forbes placed him 16th on its list of the world’s wealthiest people, with a fortune estimated at $16 billion. He was the chairman of Yukos Oil Company at the time one of the world's largest non-state oil companies.
At age 23 Khodorkovsky graduated with a chemical engineering in 1986. Both his parents were engineers in Moscow who spent their entire careers at a measuring-instruments factory. Only one year after his graduation at age 24 Khodorkovsky founded the Bank Menatep one of the first private banks in Russia. How Khodorkovsky obtained funding to do this at the tender age 24 is unknown. Bank Menatep was used to buy Yukos from the Russian government during the controversial "loans for shares" auctions of in the mid 1990s. Khodorkovsky purchased Yukos for $309 million in 1992. He was 29 at the time.
It is not public knowledge where the $309 million dollars to purchase Yukos came from. One major clue, however, can be found what happend shortly after Khodorkovsky arrest in 2003. Shortly after Khodorkovsky's arrest on tax evasion, fraud, and other economic crimes, but before it was clear that Russia was going to nationalize Yukos the following undereported news item broke.
Control of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s shares in the Russian oil giant Yukos have passed to renowned banker Jacob Rothschild, under a deal they concluded prior to Mr. Khodorkovsky’s arrest. Voting rights to the shares passed to Mr. Rothschild, 67, under a “previously unknown arrangement” designed to take effect in the event that Mr. Khodorkovsky could no longer “act as a beneficiary” of the shares. Mr. Rothschild now controls the voting rights on a stake in Yukos worth almost $13.5 billion, the newspaper said in a dispatch from Moscow
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2003/nov/2/20031102-111400-3720r/#!
According to Khodorkovsky putin will succeed in freeing russia from sanctions but Khodorkovsky implied that if Putin stays in power there is a significant chance russia will not survive in its current form with its current borders.
"If you are asking whether Russia will survive in its current borders when Putin goes, then I would say the chances of it surviving if he goes in the next five to eight years are bigger than if he goes in the next say 15 years"
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Russia's political and economic situation was not tense enough for a revolution in the short term as living standards have not fallen steeply enough to anger the population.
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Just by the time when the reserves will be running out, sanctions will be lifted on Russia
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I cannot give you short-term forecasts about Russia but if we are talking about the next 10 years then we should expect revolutionary changes.
http://www.ntnews.com.au/business/putins-russia-is-stagnating-khodorkovsky/story-fnjbnvte-1227629505979In addition to opposition from Khodorkovsky and one would presume Billionare Jacob Rothchild, Billionare George Soros is on record for his outspoken in his opposition to Putin.
Putin’s Russia has challenged both the prevailing world order, which depends on the Western powers for support, and the values and principles on which the EU was founded. Neither the European nor the American public is fully aware of the severity of the challenge.
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the Syrian crisis deteriorated when Putin’s Russia and the Iranian government came to Bashar al-Assad’s rescue
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I argued that sanctions against Russia are necessary but not sufficient. President Vladimir Putin has developed a very successful interpretation of the current situation with which to defend himself against the sanctions.
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Soros calls for radically boosted western support of Ukraine with an “immediate cash injection of at least $20bn with a promise of more when needed” to help write off public debt, and help to reform the country’s energy sector to make it less dependent on Russia.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2015/07/09/partnership-china-avoid-world-war/http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2014-10-23/george-soros-slams-putin-warns-existential-threat-russiaMr. Putin it seems has some powerful adversaries.
