Imprisoned former oil magnate Mikhail Khodorkovsky has said Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency next year would increase tension with the West and close the door on a peaceful transition of power.
Mr Putin, former president who is now prime minister, and President Dmitry Medvedev have hinted they will run in next year’s presidential election, but have said they will decide between themselves who will stand.
Khodorkovsky said Mr Putin’s return to the top job would turn back the clock and consolidate the grip on power by the prime minister and his circle – made up mostly of former security agents, and make their removal impossible except by force.
“If Putin runs in the elections, this would mean that the peaceful transition of power has failed,” he said in written comments published by Russia’s political weekly Kommersant-Vlast.
A single candidate is likely to emerge by the end of this year, closer to the parliamentary election in December.
Khodorkovsky (47) former head of what was Russia’s biggest oil firm Yukos, was sentenced last December to imprisonment until October 2017 in a ruling seen as politically motivated by Mr Putin’s critics.
A poll yesterday by Levada, an independent polling centre, showed 34 per cent of Russians believed there could be public unrest and the overthrow of the government as had occurred in Egypt.
Mr Putin served as president from 2000 to 2008 and created a power base in the Kremlin among business leaders. His successor Mr Medvedev, whom he steered into office in 2008, has focused on the need for reform.
Khodorkovsky said Mr Putin’s return to the Kremlin would aggravate confrontation with the West following the easing of tension with both Nato and the United States in the past two years.
“[Putin's return] would mean that the choice has been made towards limited confrontation with the West,” he said.
Russia and Nato have agreed to co-operate on missile defence, while Moscow’s ties with Washington have been “reset”, boosted by a landmark nuclear treaty that committed the world’s top two nuclear powers to reduce their atomic arsenals.
Khodorkovsky was convicted of fraud and tax evasion in 2005 after running foul of the Kremlin by funding opposition groups and speaking out against widespread, high-level corruption.
Meanwhile, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has described Russia as an imitation of democracy and accused its rulers of conceit and contempt for voters.
Mr Gorbachev criticised Mr Putin and Mr Medvedev for saying that they would decide between them who should run for president in Russia’s March 2012 presidential vote.
Mr Gorbachev denounced the statements as a show of “incredible conceit” and disrespect for voters. “It’s not Putin’s business. It must be decided by the nation in the elections, by those who would cast ballots,” he said at a news conference. “Can’t other people also run?”
Mr Gorbachev has previously avoided personal criticism of Mr Putin, who has remained Russia’s number one politician after shifting into the premier’s post following two presidential terms.
He is widely expected to reclaim the presidency in 2012.
Mr Gorbachev, who will turn 80 next week, said that Russia has only “imitations” of a parliament and judicial system. –