'A change in regime has become far more possible' after the Wagner Group rebellion, a Putin critic says.
June 27, 2023, 11:42 AMIn this handout photo released by Russian Presidential Press Service on Monday, June 26, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin sits for a video address in Moscow, Russia.Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the exiled former oligarch and one of Vladimir Putin's best-known critics, has campaigned for years to end the Russian leader's rule.
"Now there will definitely be more such opportunities. But the next time, we just need to be more ready," he said, adding that the democratic opposition should arm itself to be able to take advantage of them.The weekend's "situation showed that minimal armed formations are enough for the question of the transfer of power to be opened," said Khodorkovsky.
He was freed in 2013 after Putin pardoned him, and since then has helped bankroll efforts from abroad to support democratic efforts in Russia and undermine Putin's rule. Khodorkovsky said he believed Prigozhin had turned back because he understood his lacked the forces to seize Moscow, after other Russian military and security services units didn't join him. The deal with the Kremlin was possible because Putin's government was also looking for an exit from the crisis, understanding how destabilizing it was, he said, even if it was clear Prigozhin ultimately couldn't win.
Khodorkovsky faced criticism from other figures in the opposition for his calls to assist Prigozhin, an accused war criminal who has called for Russia to become more like North Korea. "If an uprising had started in Moscow to meet Prigozhin, say, then the situation could quite well have developed differently," he said. "It was clear he would never have received any power personally, but it was possible to use this situation."
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