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Putting the Bout into Khodorkovsky
By Graham Stack
Special to Russia Profile,
01/13/2011Lee Wolosky had a great end to 2010. The man who in 2000 launched the international hunt for notorious arms trader, “Merchant of Death” Viktor Bout, saw his target finally extradited to stand trial in the United States, on charges of terrorism and arms trafficking. Bout now faces up to 25 years in jail in the United States.
Russia Profile Weekly Experts Panel: The Significance of Khodorkovsky’s Second Trial
Introduced by Vladimir Frolov
Russia Profile,
12/17/2010On December 27 Moscow District Judge Alexander Danilkin will start delivering a verdict in the second trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, two former principal shareholders in the now extinct Yukos Oil Company, once Russia’s largest oil producer. Both men have been in jail since 2003 on charges of tax evasion. Their sentences are due to expire next year. Is Khodorkovsky’s fate critical to the state of Russian democracy? What is the real significance of his second trial?
Triumphant Justice, Take Two
Russia Profile,
12/27/2010The drawn-out second trial of former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev – seen as a gauge of President Dmitry Medvedev’s commitment to the rule of law – reached its anticipated conclusion on Monday afternoon, while the West enjoyed Christmas. Today’s guilty verdict means that Khodorkovsky and Lebedev could remain in jail until 2017.
Beseeching the Liberal
Russia Profile,
05/19/2010Former Yukos CEO and oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky has thrown down yet another gauntlet to the Russian authorities, challenging them to address what he says is the systemic flouting of a high-profile law introduced by President Dmitry Medvedev a month ago. The disgraced oligarch has little to gain in concrete terms from the law’s enforcement – he would remain in jail either way – but by putting pressure on Medvedev to stand by his words, he earns more “martyred saint” points and puts yet more pressure on the president to live up to his high-flown rhetoric.
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KHODORKOVSKY, Mikhail Borisovich
Former Chairman of YUKOS
09/08/2010
Mikhail Khodorkovsky (Михаил Борисович Ходорковский) was born June 26, 1963 in Moscow. The former head of oil firm Yukos, he became known internationally following his arrest and prosecution for tax evasion, which many believe was politically motivated.
Khodorkovsky graduated in 1986 from the Mendeleyev Institute of Chemical Technology in Moscow, specializing in engineering technology. Two years later he graduated from the Plekhanov Institute.
In 1986 he was the deputy secretary of a Moscow district Komsomol committee and in 1990 founded the MENATEP bank group.
In 1993 Khodorkovsky was appointed deputy fuel and energy minister of Russia. Two years later MENATEP purchased shares in the oil company YUKOS and the Murmansk steamship line. The following year he became chairman of the board of Yukos.
In 1997 Yukos merged with Rosprom and following a number of board restructurings became Yukos Moskva in 1998.
2001 - established the Open Russian Foundation with a group of YUKOS shareholders
October 25, 2003 - arrested at gunpoint in a Siberian airfield. Charged with tax fraud and evasion. Jailed.
November 3, 2003 - resigned as CEO of YUKOS
2004 - listed by Forbes Magazine as the wealthiest man in Russia and 16th wealthiest in the world; estimated to be worth over 15 billion U.S. dollars
December 19, 2004 - Yuganskneftegaz sold at forced auction to the unknown Baikal Finance Group. Baikal Finance Group later sold to state-controlled oil firm Rosneft
January 12, 2005 - transferred his majority stake in MENATEP, which controls YUKOS, to partner Leonid Nevzlin, who is currently based in Israel
February 10, 2005 - Khodorkovsky’s defense team rested in the presentation of their case
2005 - Russian magazine Finans publishes list of country’s wealthiest persons. Khodorkovsky valued at $210 million.
September 23, 2005 - Appeal rejected, sentence reduced to 8 years
October 2005 - Transferred to a prison colony near Krasnokamensk in Chita Region.
March 2009 - Facing new charges for theft of the assets of YUKOS subsidiaries from 1998-2005 in a Moscow court.
According to the Forbes 2006 rankings, Khordokovsky is now worth less than $500 million, only a few years after the magazine named him Russia's richest man.
On 30 December 2010, Khodorkovsky and Lebedev were sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment in the second trial. This term includes the sentence from the first trial.
Married to his second wife Inna, they have three children- Anastasia, Ilya, and Gleb. Son Pavel, from first marriage, lives abroad.
