Former oligarch and Kremlin opponent in exile Mikhail Khodorkovsky on Monday called on Western governments not to recognize Vladimir Putin's electoral victory, ensuring that the opposition was united against the Russian president.
“It is now a question of finally publicly recognizing Putin's illegitimacy
,” Mr. Khodorkovsky told journalists in Berlin.
“We expect a lot from
Western society
, which we ask to turn to governments to ask them not to recognize the legitimacy of Mr. Putin
,” he declared during an event organized at the think tank Center for Liberal Modernity.
“When Western heads of state and government shake hands with Mr. Putin, it is a very strong legitimization of Mr. Putin in his country
,” he added.
Former oil tycoon, Mikhail Khodorkovsky spent ten years in prison after opposing Mr. Putin in the early 2000s. Since his release in 2013, he has taken refuge in London where he finances opposition platforms.
On Sunday, Mr. Khodorkovsky met Yulia Navalnaïa, the widow of the opponent Alexeï Navalny who died in prison in February, in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin where the latter voted in the presidential election in Russia.
According to Mr. Khodorkovsky, the different opposition currents agree on the
“essential questions”
:
“We no longer want Putin in power and we want to clarify things with honest and transparent elections
. ”