- Nov 5, 2011
- 5,855
Mikhail Khodorkovsky has relaunched his Open Russia Internet project : http://www.rferl.org/content/mikhail-khodorkovsky-interview-russia/26626018.html
October 07, 2014
Former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky has relaunched his Open Russia Internet project with the aim of influencing his homeland "through political means." He discussed his vision with Voice of America (VOA) correspondent Aleksandr Panov.
VOA: The relaunched Open Russia is largely a website, an Internet project. What is the goal of the project and are you worried that the Russian authorities will be able to restrict your efforts. After all, just recently the Russian government held a meeting devoted to "preserving Russia's national interests" in the information age.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky: Of course, the Internet and the opportunities it presents will play a major role in the new Open Russia project. However, naturally, we are not exclusively relying on online technology since people have traditional mindsets -- we are used to personal communication. So offline, personal communication will be a part of our activity as well.
The essence of the project is to enable the Europe-oriented part of Russian society to communicate together, to find one another, and to learn how to act together in their common interests. That is, to become an influential political force in Russia. We think this will take some time, but the first step is the elections of 2016.
This portion of society must make its views heard more loudly than in the past although it is possible that even this will not bring about any real results in the voting. After all, as we say, in Russia it isn't important how people vote but how the votes are tallied.
..
VOA: And one last question, what is your prognosis for the short-term future of Russia? Are you optimistic, pessimistic, otherwise?
Khodorkovsky: Russia's history is more than 1,000 years long. And I am certain that no matter what the current regime does, Russia will continue to exist. In our history there have been more unpleasant regimes, but we somehow survived them. And we'll survive this one.
Read more on the website, please ..
October 07, 2014
Former Russian oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky has relaunched his Open Russia Internet project with the aim of influencing his homeland "through political means." He discussed his vision with Voice of America (VOA) correspondent Aleksandr Panov.
VOA: The relaunched Open Russia is largely a website, an Internet project. What is the goal of the project and are you worried that the Russian authorities will be able to restrict your efforts. After all, just recently the Russian government held a meeting devoted to "preserving Russia's national interests" in the information age.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky: Of course, the Internet and the opportunities it presents will play a major role in the new Open Russia project. However, naturally, we are not exclusively relying on online technology since people have traditional mindsets -- we are used to personal communication. So offline, personal communication will be a part of our activity as well.
The essence of the project is to enable the Europe-oriented part of Russian society to communicate together, to find one another, and to learn how to act together in their common interests. That is, to become an influential political force in Russia. We think this will take some time, but the first step is the elections of 2016.
This portion of society must make its views heard more loudly than in the past although it is possible that even this will not bring about any real results in the voting. After all, as we say, in Russia it isn't important how people vote but how the votes are tallied.
..
VOA: And one last question, what is your prognosis for the short-term future of Russia? Are you optimistic, pessimistic, otherwise?
Khodorkovsky: Russia's history is more than 1,000 years long. And I am certain that no matter what the current regime does, Russia will continue to exist. In our history there have been more unpleasant regimes, but we somehow survived them. And we'll survive this one.
Read more on the website, please ..
