“I am not going to be engaged in politics, and about this I told in the letter to President Putin and confirmed it several times". The website Prigovor.ru reminds its readers of what happened on December 20, 2013.
On this day 10 years ago, on December 20, 2013, the Russian president Vladimir Putin sighed the Decree No 922 “On pardoning Khodorkovsky M.B.”
“Governing by principals of humanity, I decide: pardon the convicted Khodorkovsky Mikhail Borisovich, born 1963, a native of the town Moscow, and free him from further serving his sentence in the form of imprisonment. The current decree comes into effect on the day of its signing”, read the document.
It became known that Mikhail Khodorkovsky presented a petition for pardon on the eve, after the Russian President informed that such a petition Khodorkovsky, in fact, had presented, and, referring to “circumstances of humanitarian character” and taking into consideration that a corresponding decree would be signed, it was done. As soon as Khodorkovsky was at large, he flew to Germany on the same day.
KHODORKOVSKY “EXORCISED” HIMSELF
Now Khodorkovsky explains his German itinerary in the following way: “he was under escort bundled in the airplane and expelled from Russia". However, earlier, Khodorkovsky himself publically explained his departure to Germany for quite real reasons – within the framework of the court verdicts, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev had (still have) to compensate to the state the damage to the amount of 17 billion rubles. "From the formal point of view, having arrived in Russia, I can already not get permission to leave the country”, explained at that time his decision Mikhail Khodorkovsky, as persons with outstanding debt cannot, indeed, be allowed to leave the country till their debts are discharged. And that’s it. But the fairy-tales that, allegedly, "he was bundled under escort from Russia" sell for the credulous Western public much better as real information, which will help to know that such enormous fine had been imposed to the “martyr” for tax crimes of the borehole baron-cheapskate, who had even evaded taxes as a physical person, included in the golden list of “Forbes”.
(See also the article “Tax mechanics of Khodorkovsky as a physical person”).
Apart from that, Khodorkovsky publicly and repeatedly swore off politics. He frankly admitted his insufficiency for such occupations. His insufficiency for political matters has been confirmed not only by his acknowledgment but also by his unsuccessful efforts to become in politics at least anything, except a purse.
“I am not going to be engaged in politics, and about this I told in the letter to President Putin and confirmed it several times already. I am going to be engaged in public activity. That is, the struggle for power is not my cup of tea", assured Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
Here Khodorkovsky opened slightly the content of his letter to the head of state, which he included in the official petition for pardon. The Kremlin, for its part, only confirmed that two letters from Khodorkovsky were received – one short, with the petition for pardon, and a separate letter to the president of personal character which Khodorkovsky mentioned saying that politics was not his cup of tea.
KHODORKOVSKY – A BREAKER OF CONVENTION
However, as early as 2014, Khodorkovsky cried with bitter political "tears" on the "Maidan” in Kiev. And on December 20, 2016, “The Agency of Federal Investigations” (FLB) for the third anniversary of Khodorkovsky’s discharge from prison, published a thematic investigation, having found that the factual side of Khodorkovsky’s activities completely disagreed with his declarations. “The three years of freedom have shown that Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky doesn’t stand by his words”, pointed out the media outlet.
“There were plenty of proofs that Khodorkovsky, as it had been in 2003, once more broke all obligations. And they were based not on interpretations of somebody's words or ambiguous assurances – just the analytical department of FLB had found out “grey schemes” through which Khodorkovsky had pumped dubious money into not less dubious projects. Nobody had at that time any doubts that Khodorkovsky banally lied when he publically declared “I am not going to be engaged in politics”, notes the website Prigovor.ru.
(See also the previous article “On this day, they found “false or distorted information” in the reports of PWC”. Double-bottom audit. “The conclusion of “PriceWaterhouseCoopers” was knowingly false, hiding the circumstance of Yukos tax evasion”. The website Prigovor.ru reminds its readers of what happened on December 19, 2006.
