Part 1
Case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky — not long ago, one of the wealthiest men in Russia — broke not just Russians but rather an entire world apart. Khodorkovsky — still being quite a young man — seemingly became the most famous prisoner in the world. Some people believe him to be a prisoner of conscience who got into jail for his political views; others treat him as thief who robbed a giant country. Russians, just like citizens of any post-communist state, don’t favor wealthy, but for part of the nation Khodorkovsky became a banner of the opposition, which pickets the court building and demands to liberate their idol. I also have an opinion on that matter and I’d like to share it with my readers. Khodorkovsky’s case is too complicated to give a short and unequivocal answer to the question: “What for?” Let’s try to look into Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s past and figure out “how a person could have become an oligarch during the time of Russian transformation?”
