Mikhail Khodorkovsky was born in Moscow into a working-class family on June 26, 1963.
His parents were chemical engineers and spent their whole working lives at the Kalibr factory.
Their income was low, so they lived in communal housing until 1971, when they were able to save enough money to buy an apartment of their own.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky. On the opening of Center for Internet education (Tomsk)
On the opening of Center for
Internet education (Tomsk)
From childhood onwards Mikhail showed a flair for chemistry.
He graduated from a school specializing in chemistry, and in 1981 he enrolled in the Mendeleev Chemical Engineering Institute. Since family money was tight, and he thought it unacceptable to be supported by his parents, he started moonlighting as a carpenter in a housing cooperative from his first year at university on. This didn’t stop him shining at chemistry - throughout his whole student career he always came top. But in spite of his excellence and his work in Komsomol (Communist Youth League), he was disappointed with the job he was offered after he graduated from the university. Because of the notorious ‘fifth point’ (Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s father is Jewish), he couldn’t get work in a scientific research institute specializing in anything matching his interests.
Though he realized that his chances of building a scientific career in the USSR were limited, he didn’t lose heart. By this time he had married Elena, a fellow-student, and had a small son. So he had to put making a living ahead of personal ambition.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky. With sons Iliya and Gleb
With sons Iliya and Gleb
He became interested in the new opportunities that perestroika had opened up to enterprising and energetic young people; and it occurred to him that use could be made of innovative scientific and technical projects that were being shelved at that time because of red tape. He decided to get involved in gearing new inventions and applications of this sort to production. So in 1987 he set up the Centre for Scientific and Technical Youth while taking courses, characteristically, at the Plekhanov Institute of Agriculture. The Centre fast became an effective and successful organization, a bridge between producers - who badly needed new technologies - and fundamental science.
In 1989, the Centre’s earnings became the basis for the foundation of one of the first commercial banks in Russia, Bank Menatep. It was an auspicious time for the banking sector, both state and commercial - loans were in demand. The bank played an active part in a number of state programmes - it was one of the authorized banks, for example, of the state-owned Rosvooruzhenie company. Mikhail Khodorkovsky worked day and night. During this time he met the woman who was to become his second wife - she worked as a currency-trading expert at the bank. In 1991, Inna gave birth to his second child - a daughter, Nastya.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Inna, his wife
Inna, his wife
Mikhail Khodorkovsky soon realized that Russia’s future depended a great deal more heavily on industry rather than on banks. Russian industry at the time, though, was in a shambolic state. State companies, shorn of investment and without competent management, were being looted. Workers weren’t being paid their salaries for months on end; and machinery was fast becoming obsolete. The state was desperate to attract private capital to bring loss-making enterprises into profit. But businessmen were loath to take on Soviet industrial giants crippled with enormous debts both to their workers and to the central budget.
1992 was a watershed year for Mikhail Khodorkovsky. For in October of that year, the board of Bank Menatep decided to change direction, to move from straightforward banking towards the creation of an industrial group. In 1994-1995, then, it actively involved itself in investment tenders and acquired stakes in a number of major industrial enterprises: Apatit, Voskresenskie Fertilizers, Uralelektromed, the Sredneuralsky and Kirovogradsky copper smelters, the Ust-Ilimsky timber factory, Avisma and the Volzhsky Pipe plant. In 1995, the state decided as part of a loans-for-shares deal to auction off a major stake in a state-owned oil company called Yukos. There were two reasons for this: a systemic crisis involving the entire Russian oil industry, and a lack of money in the Russian treasury.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky. His sons - Iliya and Gleb
Iliya and Gleb
By 1995 Yukos had become a loss-making company with an enormous amount of debt, constantly plummeting production-rates and outdated equipment. The company’s scattered divisions were bracing themselves for threatened strikes in protest at a 6-month hiatus in the payment of wages. The state invited any and all major financial structures to take part in the auction. But apart from Bank Menatep, none of them showed any interest in Yukos - some didn’t want to invest in a company that was plainly broke, while others were unable to raise enough money for a loan to the state. As a result, with a bid of $350 million of borrowed money, Menatep took control of 78% of Yukos shares.
Khodorkovsky was well aware of what a risk he was taking. To get Yukos out of the hole would take not only all Menatep’s funds but also whatever it could borrow from other banks. The company’s plight also called for detailed research into what was going on in every division.
After the first trip, though, to Nefteyugansk, one of Yukos’s main sites, Khodorkovsky understood that he’d made the right decision. The ruination, the desperate mood of the workers and the atmosphere of utter despair shocked him. He realized that he had a moral duty to turn the situation around.
Mikhail Khodorkovsky. His daughter Nastya and Bill Gates
His daughter Nastya and Bill Gates
It took him 6 years. Through all these years he dedicated himself to the company full-time, and gave up the banking side. He came to terms with the government on debt restructuring, attracted investment secured on nothing more than his own impeccable reputation, and conducted share offerings to finance the payment of back-wages and back-taxes. By 2003 Yukos had been transformed from a loss-making company into a world-leader in the energy market, with an estimated capitalization of $40 billion.
At this point his interest began to fade. As a businessman he had already proved everything to himself and others. Mikhail Khodorkovsky began to be more and more absorbed in the problems of ordinary Russians, particularly of young people. As the father of four children (twins Gleb and Ilya had been born in 1999), he well understood how important it was for talented young people in Russia’s towns and villages to get a chance of higher education. He was also well aware that Russia’s young people are its most important and valuable resource. In 2001, then, he started the Open Russia foundation, to fund projects in the fields of culture, education and the development of the country’s intellectual potential. He intended in time to hand over the running of Yukos to his colleagues and to dedicate himself entirely to the foundation.
On October 25 2003, he was arrested in Novosibirsk by masked FSB operatives who stormed his private jet, and was accused of having broken the law in the privatization of Apatit in 1994. After his arrest, Mikhail Khodorkovsky resigned as the CEO of Yukos, not wanting his detention to affect thousands of Yukos employees.
In March 2004, Vedomosti published an article called The Crisis of Liberalism in Russia, which Khodorkovsky had passed to it via his lawyers. The article caused a considerable stir and started a debate on Russia’s future social development.
God Bless -
Freedom and Liberty -
Amen
Mikhail Khodorkovsky declares hunger strike in support of Vasily Aleksanyan
‘To the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, Yury Yakovlevich Chaika
Declaration
I am forced to turn directly to you with regards to the situation with Aleksanyan.
V.G. Aleksanyan is no longer under investigation;
he is now under arrest. S.K. Karimov, who is directly linked to the matter, is furthermore under your immediate authority. It is my firm belief that S.K. Karimov has, with the direct cooperation of I.I. Sechin, taken several questionable actions over the past couple of years in order to obtain evidence for crimes not committed.
Additionally, threats have been made and actions taken against intractable witnesses. A number of these threats were also made real, cases were made up and people were put on trial or sent to prison.
As I have repeatedly stated, the mere possibility of such pressure on people leads as a consequence to the covering up of documentary evidence.
However, as there so far have been no direct threats to the lives of potential witnesses, I assumed it possible to engage exclusively in a procedural dispute, whilst awaiting the appearance of the long promised independent court in Russia.
The situation with my lawyer, V.G. Aleksanyan, is unique.
I gathered from his appearance that not only was he being interrogated about me, but that they were also proposing to give him medical treatment in exchange for a testimony that "suited them and Karimov in particular".. But he may no longer be alive by the time the court reaches a decision.
I have no contact with V.G. Aleksanyan. I can only judge his condition by his appearance at the Supreme Court
I know that the Federal Enforcement Service in Moscow are capable of lying in court. I know this from my own hunger strike and therefore their declaration is not reassuring.
I am therefore faced with making an impossible moral decision:
- either to confess to crimes I have not committed and in doing so saving a person’s life. But at the same time I would ruin the lives of innocent people who have been given the attribute of being my ‘accomplices’.
- or to defend my rights, wait for the installation of an independent court but at the same time risk being the death of my lawyer, Aleksanyan.
I have thought about this long and hard and I find it an impossible choice to make.
Therefore I am forced to act beyond normal procedures and announce to you the start of my hunger strike.
I sincerely hope that the leading authorities together with yourself, will come to a decision that guarantees V.G. Aleksanyan his life and medical assistance.’
In a protocol from 29.01.2008 an entry reads: I have handed over a declaration for the attention of Yury Yakovlevich Chaika regarding my hunger strike starting from the 29th of January, 2008.
The reasons for it are stated in the declaration.
Signed M. Khodorkovsky.’
30 January 2008
Mikhail Khodorkovsky declares hunger strike in support of Vasily Aleksanyan -
Khodorkovsky's declaration addressed to
the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation. »
God Bless Mikhail -
and his family -
Amen
January 22, 2008
The Supreme Court plays God -
Mortally ill Vasily Alexanyan is to remain in prison
Judge: Say what decision you expect from the Supreme Court?
Alexanyan: I expect you to reach a just and humane decision.
I consider that there are no lawful grounds for keeping me
in detention in the present conditions and in my present
state of health.
The investigation has been completed, we have signed all
the depositions.
There just remains, it seems, a desire to finish me off
behind bars.
I think that the Supreme Court must make up its mind,
reverse Judge Fomin’s decree and release me from custody.
That’s the ruling I expect.
I consider the extension to be unlawful.
I ask the Supreme Court to show that there is justice
in Russia and that Russian citizens do not need to go
and die on the steps of the European Court of
Human Rights in order to attain justice,
that it can be found here, in Moscow,
in your court room.
Show that’s true.
How long can we pave the country with bones?
My trial has not yet begun, by the way.
Preliminary investigation?
For two years you’ve kept a very sick man in prison.
|
