On the Internet you can find a statement attributed to a Russian entrepreneur and politician. We checked whether Khodorkovsky stated anything similar.
In 2003, one of the richest people in Russia, co-owner of the Yukos oil company, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, was arrested on charges of theft and tax evasion. Two years later, he was sentenced on the second of these counts to seven years in prison, to which a term for theft of energy resources was subsequently added. In 2013, the former entrepreneur was pardoned and released early by decree of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In various sources you can read that in the early 2000s Khodorkovsky was so confident in his own integrity that he said in an interview with a certain foreign journalist: “In the event of my arrest, in a couple of hours (in some sources, “in half an hour.” - Ed.) NATO troops will land on Red Square (in some sources, “US Marine Corps landing.” - Ed.).
You can read about this on resources such as “Constantinople", Pravda.ru, "Polytonline", "Journalistic truth" And "World is Small" The quote was widely distributed on social networks - it is mentioned from time to time, for example, in “LiveJournal", Telegram And X.
The Khodorkovsky case caused a polar reaction in Russia and the world. Some considered the criminal prosecution fair, others focused on the political motives of the current government (immediately before his arrest, Khodorkovsky accused the president’s inner circle of corruption). Foreign and independent Russian media and experts called the entrepreneur’s arrest was “a key event that marked Putin’s departure from liberal values and the image of Yeltsin’s successor.” In 2011, a human rights organization Amnesty International awarded Mikhail Khodorkovsky the status of a prisoner of conscience.
The quote about the NATO landing is usually used by Khodorkovsky’s opponents. However, the first thing that catches your eye when studying examples of the use of this phrase is the lack of an explicit reference to the source. No one writes when and under what circumstances the quote was uttered, the publication in which it first appeared is not indicated, only occasionally it is mentioned that this was done during communication with foreign journalists.
Another feature is that before and immediately after Khodorkovsky’s arrest, this quote was not cited by any major or authoritative publication. “Verified” found no traces of the statement in the Archive of the Russian Independent Press (RIMA), nor in the Russian periodical press archive East View. The quote is not found in the project database “Google Books" At the same time, such a sharp statement from the leader of the Russian list Forbes The media of that time simply could not help but notice. As the “Verified” study shows, the quote exists mainly on social networks, occasionally receiving bursts of popularity thanks to individual popular publications. For example, in 2006 her mentioned writer and Holocaust denier Oleg Platonov, after 2013 some referred to an article in "Polytonline", and in 2019 the phrase used in an ironic tweet by ex-State Duma deputy from United Russia Konstantin Rykov.
Khodorkovsky himself in his publications repeatedly indirectly gave understand, which has nothing to do with the viral quote. Moreover, contrary to her main idea, in 2006 he interview Alexandru Prohanovu said that he was not at all shocked by the fact of his arrest, since he was “warned in advance by well-informed people” about his likely impending imprisonment.
“Verified” contacted the politician through his press secretary, and Khodorkovsky gave a direct refutation: he never said such a phrase. According to him, he once even tried to find out where she came from, but did not find a clear answer - the traces led somewhere in the direction of ill-wishers in the power structures.
The oldest mention of the quote found by "Verified" is dated 2005 and appears in one of comments in LiveJournal, however, it was clearly not the first - both here and in some other entries of that time the phrase is referred to as something long familiar. She has something in common with attributed to to American President Jimmy Carter with the statement: “I cannot send the Marines to free Soviet prisoners of conscience. But I will do the rest."
Thus, there is no evidence that Khodorkovsky ever spoke about a NATO landing on Red Square. Reputable publications over the years have ignored this quote, and the alleged author himself categorically denies such an attribution.
Cover photo: Wikimedia Commons
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