Photographers near the monitors of Moscow City Court, which was considering the appeal of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s lawyers
Photo: Sergey Shakhidzhanyan
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Khodorkovsky Writes a New Letter
April 14, A new letter of Yukos ex-head Mikhail Khodorkovsky, addressed to the regional media representatives has been published Wednesday.
The letter reads: “Today the notions ‘liberalism’ and ‘democracy’ have virtually become swear-words, and the reason for it is not that the Russian people do not want freedom, but that the words are tightly connected to the shock of 1991-1993 and to the collapse of 1998. Thus we, advocates of the liberal democratic vector have only two possibilities: the first is to say “We (I mean “the old liberals” and myself) have done the right things” and leave the political scene with our head proudly up, taking away the ideals of freedom and democracy from the uncomprehending people for some 20 years, the people who for some reason still want social guarantees, stability and wages. Or we can honestly say: “We have done a lot of mistakes because of our foolishness, or ambitions, or misunderstanding of what was happening in the country with its package of social and regional peculiarities, - these are our mistakes, not some inevitable result of liberal-democratic reforms. Forgive us if you can, let us atone for them, we know how, and if you cannot – we shall leave – we –certain people but not the ideals of freedom and democracy.” And then the new liberals have 4 more years to start everything anew.
Still another thing, unpleasant but truthful – the country has only one authority institution recognized by the people – the president. This is very much due to our own mistakes, we must learn to understand each other. This in no way means we must give up criticism and formation of civil society structures. This implies understanding our own responsibility for maintaining stability in the country, so painfully achieved and far from guaranteed, whether historically or politically.
In order to make liberal democratic values popular among the people, we must provide a certain level of stability and safety, bring down the poverty rate, grant equal education and work opportunities to the young, etc – these tasks are practical and solvable, and will not disturb the country’s overall stability as well as further cooperation with the West, and will consider Russia’s national peculiarities and interests.” In my opinion it is a mistake to oppose the task of civil society and democratic institutions formation to the task of achieving and maintaining stability and consensus. These are two parallel and supporting each other processes, though they may conflict each other. Balance is what is important. Think about that,” IA Regnum quotes Khodorkovsky’s letter.
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