The Russia Conundrum Quotes

“Russia, Catherine asserted, is too big and too unruly ever to be suited to democracy; only the strong hand of centralised autocracy can keep such a disparate, centripetal empire together and maintain order among her people.”
― Mikhail Khodorkovsky, The Russia Conundrum: How the West Fell for Putin's Power Gambit--and How to Fix It

“Strategically, China doesn’t need a junior partner, and it will never quarrel with the West in order to side with Russia.”
― Mikhail Khodorkovsky, The Russia Conundrum: How the West Fell for Putin's Power Gambit--and How to Fix It

“A popular joke of the past couple of years in Russia asks, ‘What is the Russian for fake news?’ with the answer being, ‘News.”
― Mikhail Khodorkovsky, The Russia Conundrum: How the West Fell for Putin's Power Gambit--and How to Fix It

“In the US, for example, there has been a marked radicalisation of TV networks, with CNN openly supporting the left and Fox equally siding with the right. This has led US politics to become damagingly polarised and people’s prejudices entrenched to extremes”
― Mikhail Khodorkovsky, The Russia Conundrum: How the West Fell for Putin's Power Gambit--and How to Fix It

“regret that Ronald Reagan dropped the ‘fairness’ requirement that up until 1987 demanded balance from the broadcast networks.”
― Mikhail Khodorkovsky, The Russia Conundrum: How the West Fell for Putin's Power Gambit--and How to Fix It

“Being in prison is akin to acquiring a sensory disability, where one failing sense is compensated for by the others becoming sharper. In place of absent external stimuli comes a greater sensitivity to the remaining ones, the hidden clues that betray people’s real intentions.”
― Mikhail Khodorkovsky, The Russia Conundrum: How the West Fell for Putin's Power Gambit--and How to Fix It

“We believe the key point here is education, and that’s why we give money for education in various aspects – teaching kids how to use the internet, establishing contacts between young people in the UK, the US and Russia, training young journalists etc. The aim is very simple. Twenty years have passed. Another twenty or thirty years and we might become a normal country.”
― Mikhail Khodorkovsky, The Russia Conundrum: How the West Fell for Putin's Power Gambit--and How to Fix It

“By the early 2000s, it became clear that many of Vladimir Putin’s closest aides were no longer interested in democratic freedoms, but were instead determined to return Russia to the old ways”
― Mikhail Khodorkovsky, The Russia Conundrum: How the West Fell for Putin's Power Gambit--and How to Fix It

“By rewriting history, Putin wishes to create a narrative of continuity between the eras of tsarism, communism and the present day, in which Russia appears as an imperial power, equalling and rivalling the West, exerting strength and influence across the globe.”
― Mikhail Khodorkovsky, The Russia Conundrum: How the West Fell for Putin's Power Gambit--and How to Fix It

“The first one, Dmitry, says to his friend, ‘Tell me, Ivan. What do you really think about this regime we live under?’ Ivan replies, ‘The same as you do,’ after which Dmitry thinks for a moment, and then says, ‘In that case, it is my duty to arrest you.”
― Mikhail Khodorkovsky, The Russia Conundrum: How the West Fell for Putin's Power Gambit--and How to Fix It

“My favourite is the story of the Kremlin lackey who rushes in to give Putin the results of the presidential election. ‘Mr President, I have good news and bad news,’ the lackey says. ‘What is the good news?’ Putin asks. ‘You won the election,’ comes the reply. ‘And what is the bad news?’ ‘No one voted for you.”
― Mikhail Khodorkovsky, The Russia Conundrum: How the West Fell for Putin's Power Gambit--and How to Fix It

“As a business leader, I am acutely aware of the way Putin’s leadership stifles economic prosperity. But it is more than that. It has a noxious effect on the moral welfare of the country. It stifles our nation’s present, our people and our future.”
― Mikhail Khodorkovsky, The Russia Conundrum: How the West Fell for Putin's Power Gambit--and How to Fix It