After a decade in prison you look at time differently, says Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The former Russian oligarch, whom President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly pardoned in December, is visiting Washington this week, sharing his thoughts with people who knew him back in Moscow -- before prison, before his Yukos Oil Co. was dismantled, before he lost his estimated fortune of $15 billion.
After a decade in prison you look at time differently, says Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The former Russian oligarch, whom President Vladimir Putin unexpectedly pardoned in December, is visiting Washington this week, sharing his thoughts with people who knew him back in Moscow -- before prison, before his Yukos Oil Co. was dismantled, before he lost his estimated fortune of $15 billion.
Since Putin pardoned him after 10 years in a Siberian labor camp over tax evasion, embezzlement and money laundering -- charges he has continued to deny -- Khodorkovsky has, for the most part, steered clear of direct involvement in Russia's internal political situation. But this hasn't stopped him from criticizing Putin's actions in Ukraine, and arguing that the Russian President is ignoring "global and strategic challenges" to his country, "using his office to avenge a personal grudge."
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