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Mikhail Khodorkovsky

@khodorkovsky.com

6.7K followers 15 following 500 posts

A leader of the Russian opposition, reformer. Ex-political prisoner (2003–2013). Follow for insights on current events in Russia and beyond. My book 'How to Slay a Dragon: Building a New Russia After Putin' is available here — https://a.co/d/ai95jkW

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 7d

If you truly believe expression is a natural human right, you can't ignore those living under laws that criminalize that right.

The moment you do, it becomes hard to take you seriously.

Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 7d

The UK may have speech law issues deserving criticism. Russia has eliminated free speech entirely.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 7d

He knows Kara-Murza's 25-year sentence. He knows Yashin's 8.5 years for "false information."

He knows journalists face decades behind bars. And that makes his framing of the issue deeply disingenuous.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 7d

I believe Tucker is aware of this. At least because a last-year high-profile prisoner swap included victims of these laws.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 7d

The situations in two countries aren’t comparable and to state anything different is simply offensive to those who paid with their freedom for resisting an illegal war.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 7d

In the UK, someone found guilty of a speech-related offence faces a fine and/or six months in prison at most.

In Russia, by contrast, people are handed sentences of more than eight years, subjected to torture behind bars, and denied even basic medical care.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 7d

132 media projects blocked in 2024. 12,200 sources censored for "military" reasons.

Russia scores "Not Free" in the Internet Freedom Index: freedomhouse.org/country/russ...

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 7d

This is why Russia doesn't need mass arrests.

Fear does the work: 50,000 detained, thousands prosecuted, hundreds imprisoned—the message spreads rapidly, this is why those who didn’t want to live under these conditions but also didn’t want to go to prison had to flee.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 7d

556 administrative penalties for foreign agent violations in 2024, up from 368 in 2023.

58 journalists fined multiple times, which made them eligible for criminal charges.

The Putin’s regime works in pattern: fine repeatedly, if they keep speaking — imprison.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 7d

There have been 30,000+ cases for social media posts, shares and "likes" since 2010.

A man has been charged for liking a
Hollywood movie poster with a swastika—the same movie has shown on Russian state TV.

www.newsweek.com/2018/10/19/h...

How a Social Media Post in Russia Can Land You in Jail

A little-known police agency known as Center E is cracking down on dissent.

www.newsweek.com

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 7d

Her only crime was saying that Russian forces killed civilians. The state prosecutor’s case relied solely on “verified information” — basically, state-approved facts: memopzk.org/news-eng/olg...

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 7d

Olga Menshikh, 59, was sentenced to 8 years for two VK posts about Bucha and Vinnytsia that had 15 followers. She worked as an anesthetic nurse at a hospital in Moscow and her patients included Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 7d

This deterrent works because people know what happens when they speak their minds.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 7d

There have been 7,430 administrative cases for "discrediting" the military.

663 criminal prosecutions for war-related speech: 192 for "fake news," 110 for "discrediting" the military.

Criminal cases against journalists doubled: 45 in 2024 vs 23 in 2023.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 7d

In Russia, dissent is preemptively criminalized through federal law:

— War censorship: 15 years for calling the war a "war"
— "Extremism": vague enough to target any critic
— "Foreign agent" laws: 688 labeled, including 160 journalists, financially suffocating label for many professionals

upr-info.org

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 7d

At the same time, there have been 50,000 documented detentions of peaceful protesters in Russia between 2019-2022.

Then 19,786 more for anti-war expression following the full-scale invasion. The 3,319 "arrests" Tucker cites are a fraction of actual repression.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 7d

While British 12,000 is an incredibly large and intimidating figure, it’s important to understand the context: most of these arrests do not result in prosecution or conviction, and many involve communications that go beyond simple online posts.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 7d

3,319 Russian arrests vs 12,000 UK arrests for speech.

Tucker Carlson
implies Russia is as democratic as Britain—if not more.

🧵It's not. Here's what he is leaving out

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 11d

Read my latest piece in Politico for more details: www.politico.eu/article/vlad...

Follow me for more insights in Russia and Putin's regime

Sanctions alone will never stop Putin

If the West really wants to force Russia to stop the war, it needs to focus on military build-up — not just economic action.

www.politico.eu

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 11d

So if a complete shutdown of oil and gas imports is off the table, then only a large-scale Nato military build-up can change the calculus. Nothing else. Until Europe accepts that reality, and acts on it, Putin will remain undeterred.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 11d

Targeted tech sanctions may help, especially for goods China can’t provide. But a 2020s version of CoCom—the Cold War-era controls on imports from the USSR and other communist nations—wouldn’t shift the balance decisively

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 11d

But as a result, billions are still flowing into the Russian treasury from energy sales. And the sanctions lose moral authority when Western money keeps financing the war

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 11d

Meanwhile, Europe never fully committed to cutting off Russian energy. Trump wasn’t wrong to call out the hypocrisy, but his offer to replace Russian gas with US exports is transactional and comes at too high a price for European voters

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 11d

Remember, Putin doesn’t govern by popularity. He doesn’t care about domestic approval. He rules through control, and no number of sanctions will loosen his grip on the country

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 11d

A $40b revenue cut sounds meaningful until you remember the regime can always offset it by devaluing the ruble or slashing domestic spending, with zero political cost

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