Swiss federal system could be model for post-Putin Russia, says Mikhail Khodorkovsky

Mikhail Khodorkovsky was in 2010 sentenced by a Russian court for corruption in a trial that many saw as politically motivated. He was pardoned in 2013 and fled to Switzerland, then London. Keystone / Sergei Chirikov

The Kremlin critic and former oligarch also said in an interview with Blick newspaper that he was critical of Switzerland’s position on the Ukraine war, especially at the start.

“I strongly criticised it when it wanted to maintain absolute neutrality,” Khodorkovsky told Blick. “Even if it is not in the EU, it is part of the European area and cannot ignore European opinion – from a moral point of view.”

He acknowledged, however, that Switzerland subsequently softened its stance, freezing Russian accounts and taking in Ukrainian refugees.

Journalists from Swiss newspaper Blick travelled to London to conduct the interviewExternal link with Khodorkovsky, who still has a house in Switzerland. The former oil tycoon was imprisoned by the Putin regime for alleged corruption, and fled to Switzerland after release in 2013, before moving to London where he already had an office.

Khodorkovsky is founder of “Open Russia” and also of the Anti-War Committee, together with other dissident Russians such as chess world champion Garry Kasparov. The chess champion has called Khodorkovsky the man of the hour for the post-Putin era.

Asked what he wants Russia to look like “once Putin is gone”, Khodorkovsky replied that there were two paths. “One is the Yugoslav model, in which Russia would be divided into several states,” he told Blick.

+ Read the full interview here.

“That would be very dangerous and could lead to nuclear conflicts and new dictatorships. I favour the path of complete reconstruction and development into a parliamentary and federal model similar to Switzerland’s.” He said there was “a lot of support” for this model in Russian cities.