Russian President Vladimir Putin's government is likely refusing to release the body of opposition leader Aleksei Navalny, who died suspiciously in prison on February 16, fearing massive outpouring of grief and support for Mikhail Khodorkovsky in the immediate run-up to March's presidential election. said a leading Russian opposition figure.
“There could be large-scale confrontations in Moscow,” the exiled former oil tycoon said in an interview with Current timethe Russian-language network operated by RFE/RL in collaboration with VOA.
“The authorities don’t want people to understand how many of them are against Putin. The main task of Putin's propaganda is to convince people that if they are against Putin, they are on the sidelines… If people see that there are really a lot of them… then the situation can change in a matter of seconds .
Khodorkovsky: “Putin fear” Navalny’s funeral could trigger protests
Russian authorities have not yet returned Navalny's body to his family, while his mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, said on February 22 that they were urging them to hold a private funeral “without farewell ceremonies.”
SEE ALSO: Navalny's mother allowed to see body, Russian officials push for secret funeral
Khodorkovsky, who lives in exile in London and funds various projects to promote democracy in Russia, said that if Navalny's family rejects the government's demands, his body will likely not be released until after the March 17 presidential election, which the Kremlin hopes to capitalize on as a sign of national unity in support of Putin and the ongoing all-out invasion of Ukraine.
A big show of support for Navalny would be “a very serious signal to the elite,” Khodorkovsky told Current Time.
Khodorkovsky described Navalny's widow Yulia Navalnaya, who has vowed to continue her husband's work, as “a person acceptable to the majority of opposition leaders” and said he was ready to coordinate with her and “address certain problems together.”
SEE ALSO: 'If anyone can continue his work, Julia can': Navalny's widow steps forward in Russian opposition's darkest hour
But he said the Russian democratic opposition was too diverse to unite around a single figure, “even the smartest, most brilliant and best person you can imagine.”
He added that Putin's government is “pushing us toward revolution” by replacing politics with government power.
“The more it uses violent methods and the tougher it is on the opposition, the greater the likelihood that the opposition will become radicalized and more likely to adopt harsh and radical responses,” he said. “And after that, one should expect that Russia will become a democratic country. That’s just objective reality.”
Khodorkovsky also called on the West not to recognize the legitimacy of the March presidential election and to treat Putin from a position of strength.
“The West’s weakness gives Putin a free hand,” he said, encouraging him to continue his aggression.
“What can stop him is a show of force,” he said. “If you have the power, show it. If not, just wait for him to kick down your door.”
He said he believes enacting further sanctions against Russia would have little effect, but existing sanctions require stricter enforcement. Many of the advanced weapons systems Russia is deploying in Ukraine contain Western-made components, he said, encouraging Putin not to view sanctions as a serious problem.
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Formerly Russia's richest man, Khodorkovsky, 60, was arrested in 2003 on fraud charges that he said were fabricated by Putin and his allies to punish his political activities, pander to influential tycoons and seize the oil assets of his company Yukos. pass into state hands.
He spent just over a decade in prison before being pardoned and flown out of the country in December 2013.