BELGIUM: Pavel Khodorkovsky, the son of jailed ex-Yukos boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky, asks the EU to help the Russian opposition movement

Record ID: 593331

  • Title: BELGIUM: Pavel Khodorkovsky, the son of jailed ex-Yukos boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky, asks the EU to help the Russian opposition movement
  • Date: 7th March 2012
  • Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (RECENT) (REUTERS) EXTERIORS EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT EU FLAGS OUTSIDE PARLIAMENT
  • Embargoed: 22nd March 2012 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Belgium, Belgium
  • Country: Belgium
  • Topics: Crime,International Relations,Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVAFCMQBKFT4I5PXN50ICNSNU6L
  • Story Text: Pavel Khodorkovsky, the son of jailed ex-Yukos boss Mikhail Khodorkovsky told a debate panel at the European Parliament on Tuesday (March 6) that the opposition movement in Russia needs help from the EU for it to become a strong political force.
    The young Khodorkovsky was participating in a debate at the European Parliament in Brussels that discussed the fairness of the Russian elections.
    The European Parliament has expressed concern about the way the elections were conducted, and has urged the Russian leadership to meet the promises of political and electoral reform. Former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt, who heads the liberal party in the European Parliament, opened the debate by saying it was important for the EU to keep the pressure up on Moscow.
    "So, it is absolutely vital that everybody now has maintained the pressure on the Russian authorities. The opposition shall do it by continuing the demonstration in the coming weeks, but also the international community has an obligation to do so by making clear statements. What we need now is not congratulations, what we need now is pressures so that these political reforms are going forward," said Verhofstadt.
    Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin won last Sunday's presidential elections, but international monitors have condemned the elections as unfair. Apart from wide-spread fraud on the election day, they say the campaigning period was unfair, with the opposition candidates having no access to mass media.
    Russian communist leader and Putin's main rival in the presidential race, Gennady Zyuganov, and the leaders of ongoing anti-Putin protests refused to recognize the election results as legitimate, citing allegations of ballot-stuffing and multiple voting, and staged numerous rallies against the election results in the capital on Monday (March 5), where hundreds were detained.
    Pavel Khodorkovsky, whose father was arrested and jailed in 2003 on tax evasion and fraud charges after showing political ambitions and falling out with Putin, said Putin can no longer count on the support of the Russian population.
    "Putin's victory in the first round, although it may seem as unequivocal, it's actually a hollow victory. We have had a very low, in absolute terms, voter turnout, and discounting the amount of fraud that has taken place, he does not command the overwhelming majority of the support of the Russian population," Pavel Khodorkovsky said.
    He said change in Russia would come, but urged the EU to help the opposition movement.
    "The message of change is inevitable, we are not talking about whether it will happen in Russia and whether, democracy, whether we will have the return to democracy. We're only discussing the speed and the haste with which it will take place, and this is where I believe Russians need help from the European Union because the opposition right now enjoys a lot of popular support, and what it enjoys and gains in popular support it lacks in organization and policy and long-term planning," he said.
    Putin has already served as president or prime minister for 12 consecutive years and made way for his ally, Dmitry Medvedev, in 2008 only because of constitutional limits.
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