Mikhail Khodorkovsky

Exiled Russian businessman and activist

Mikhail Khodorkovsky was head of Yukos, one of the world’s largest oil producers, and was at one point the richest man in Russia. As a pioneering philanthropist, he established the Open Russia Foundation in 2001 with the aim of building and strengthening civil society in Russia.

In 2003, after criticising endemic corruption at a televised meeting with President Putin, he was arrested, and jailed, on charges of tax evasion and fraud and his shares in Yukos were frozen. He was declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International, and finally released in December 2013.

Since his release, Khodorkovsky has advocated for an alternative vision for his country, based on a parliamentary republic model and the rule of law, and has been described by the Economist as ‘the Kremlin’s leading critic-in-exile’.

This event is hosted in collaboration with the Cambridge University Russian Society.

Friday 12th May - 14:00