Russia’s Federal Security Service announced on Tuesday the initiation of a criminal case against the exiled Kremlin critic, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The charges allege his involvement in establishing a “terrorist organization” and planning a violent seizure of power. Khodorkovsky, formerly a prominent oil magnate and once Russia’s wealthiest individual, previously spent a decade incarcerated in a Siberian prison on what many Western nations deemed politically motivated fraud charges.
The Federal Security Service specified that the accusations pertain to the operations of a group supported by Khodorkovsky, known as the Anti-War Committee, which opposes the conflict in Ukraine and has been outlawed in Russia. There has been no immediate response from Khodorkovsky or his associates.
Khodorkovsky rose to prominence as part of a small group of affluent entrepreneurs who supported Russia’s former President Boris Yeltsin during the 1990s, amassing significant influence over the country’s economy. His standing diminished as Yeltsin’s successor, Vladimir Putin, consolidated control over once-independent business figures within the Kremlin’s sphere.
After receiving a pardon in 2013 and departing Russia, Khodorkovsky has aligned himself with various opposition factions against Putin, actively advocating for Kyiv over Moscow in the Ukrainian conflict since 2022. Shortly following the commencement of hostilities, he was labeled a “foreign agent” by the Russian government.