On April 30, following the results of the Berlin unification congress, the domestic opposition adopted an appeal saying: "At this tragic hour, we declare our strategic goals - to stop aggression against Ukraine and create a free, legal, federal Russia. <... >We see Russia as a country in which the rights and freedoms of the individual are guaranteed," etc. Everything is as always.
At the level of legal entities, the appeal was signed by: the Spanish Association of Free Russians, the movement "Flame of Freedom", "Krakow for Free Russia", the political movement "Voice of Reason", Free Russia of the land of North Rhine-Westphalia, etc. At the level of individuals - indispensable M.A. Gelman *, L.Y. Gozman **, A.N. Illarionov etc. Everything is also as always.
You can look endlessly at three things: how the fire burns, how the water flows, and how the Democrats unite. It is not started by us, it will not end with us.
Of course, the truce was not easy. Some prominent wrestlers did not consider it necessary to participate, which is why the representativeness of the assembly was so-so, other prominent fighters like the Kiev head of the Russian Liberation Army, I.V. Ponomarev*** the organizers tried to put out, but, being a stubborn man, he somehow contrived to put his signature. However, such difficulties will not surprise anyone either.
The only interesting thing about the congress under Walpurgis Night was that, according to opposition (not Kremlin) sources, the organization and financing was taken over by the private investor M.B. Khodorkovsky ****. Also, it would seem, a familiar thing. Since 2014, he has forgotten his promise not to engage in politics and only does it. Congresses, the creation of more and more organizations and the media - and almost everywhere his figure flashes.
Actually, why not. The former head of Yukos is vindictive that your Count of Monte Cristo wants to administer his judgment on the offenders, and besides, a lot of active people feed around him. You may or may not like it, but there is nothing surprising here.
However, Edmond Dantes, aka the Count of Monte Cristo, is a dream, a phantom. In practice, the terrible rich man - "What is beyond my control, as a certain demon from here I can rule the world" - is rare, if not at all. Wealth is not everything, including when it comes to policy financing. Of course, for politics, as well as for war, three things are needed: money, money and money again. This condition is necessary, but not at all sufficient. There is a lot more to be done. Otherwise, all the money will be wasted, which in history we will find a lot of examples.
Moreover, there is another difficulty. And who, in fact, said that M.B. Khodorkovsky today is the most terrible rich man who is subject to everything (at least theoretically)?
Indeed, at the peak of his career, that is, somewhere in 2000-2003, his fortune was $ 7 billion, and others said that even $ 18 billion. As, in fact, happened with Khodorkovsky. It was he who in 2003 owned the phrase that no one would dare to arrest him, and if there is still such an imprudent one, then in an hour the US Marine Corps will land on Red Square. As you know, he did not land.
After the arrest, the money began to melt. And because of the actions of the Russian authorities, and no less - if not more - because of the loss of control over associates and employees who began to drag what they could. The fact that M.B. Khodorkovsky has not yet met and does not talk with his former friend and partner L.B. Nevzlin is explained by this. Friendship is friendship, and money is apart. Again, there was no income, and the costs were quite high: a team of lawyers who looked at the prisoner as a cash cow, literary blacks, providing good living conditions in the zone, tasty and healthy food.
As a result, in the early 2020s, only $600 million remained of the billions, and in the list of the Russian rich (although he had lived in London for a long time), he ranked 197th: between the wife of the potash worker Rybolovlev, who tortured him with alimony, and the eccentric Londoner Adonyev, who was shaken out by the director of Landau Khrzhanovsky.
If you go into private life, and half a billion is not bad at all. True, the British government can take the udder (the sad fate of Aven and Friedman), but if it does not, then the rest of your life can be spent comfortably.
But Napoleonic dreams should be forgotten. Sit quietly, do not go anywhere and live on rent.
If dreams do not give rest, then an example can be the sad fate of B.A. Berezovsky - by the time of his death in 2013, he was completely ruined. The resource of obtaining money ran out, everyone who could began to pinch it, and various political schemes devoured the rest of the funds. It seems that Khodorkovsky also moved along this path. The terrible rich man does not mortgage his Best Beech Place estate on the outskirts of London to a Swiss bank for £ 6 million.
But there is also a remedy in meager exile. Who said that Mikhail Khodorkovsky finances the opposition out of his own pocket, as the ill-fated Boris Abramovich did?
Hypothetically, there is another way - to act as a gasket. Money for gatherings like Berlin, for all sorts of MBH media, etc., is given by a certain fund, which, in turn, receives funds from the State Department or directly from the CIA. And the recipient of the money only puffs out his cheeks.
This scheme is convenient in all respects. The oppositionists fed from Khodorkovsky's hand do not know (or pretend not to know) about the original source of funds. It is not always decent to openly feed from the hands of the CIA. American patrons also have nothing to do with it. They can talk about the power of Russian civil society activists. It would be less majestic to talk about the strength of one's own employees. Khodorkovsky acts as the life-giver and culprit, not as a clerk who paints budgets.
Only the American taxpayer suffers somewhat, but the situation with the US debt is such that the barn burned down - burn and hut. Moreover, spending on the Russian opposition in the general expenditure list is rather ridiculous. One Zelensky devours orders of magnitude more. And if everyone likes such a masquerade - why not?
Komsomol members are not only restless hearts, but also extremely cunning people. Unreliable, of course, but that's no longer our concern.
* A media outlet recognized as a foreign agent by the decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated 30.12.2021.
** Recognized as a foreign agent by the decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated 06.05.2022.
Included in the register of individuals performing the functions of a foreign agent, by decision of the Ministry of Justice of Russia dated 21/10/2022.
Included in the register of individuals performing the functions of a foreign agent, by decision of the Ministry of Justice of Russia dated 20/05/2022.
The author's point of view may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.