iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 27/09/2026

Russia built "Dead Hand" to retaliate even after its leaders were killed. But who decides to launch? New evidence suggests it could now be a machine: blog.khodorkovsky.com/p/could-a-ma...

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 25/09/2026

Putin: The war will continue until its root causes are eliminated. The root cause of the war:

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 22/09/2026

Putin wanted to stop NATO expansion, but his war in Ukraine forced Europe to rearm and spend record sums on defense. Instead of pushing the alliance away, he brought it closer, doubled the border with NATO, and left Russia vastly weaker and more isolated than before

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 20/09/2026

The new US sanctions package looks very tough. 🧵But it gives Trump broader powers without concrete obligations to use them against Putin. [1/6]

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 01/09/2026

Watch this: Putin’s political circus has reached its peak. The clowns don't even pretend to put on a show anymore.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 10/08/2026

The Kremlin only tolerates opposition parties when it can control the outcome. Hundreds of people showing up at the courthouse today made sure Yabloko was not one of those cases. Too risky. That is why Putin's rubber-stamp court just removed them from the ballot.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 04/08/2026

Marx called religion the opium of the people. After 33 years of leading the Russian communists, Gennady Andreyevich has decided to try the product.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 03/08/2026

Stop expecting Washington's tariffs to end the war in Ukraine. Western leaders must face reality: only sustained European defense production and direct military aid to Kyiv will force Putin to stop. (Read on — 🧵 1/15)

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 28/07/2026

Putin’s words here are a chilling confession of his fear of peace. Without the distraction of war, he knows society will finally wake up and ask exactly what he has done to their country.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 16/07/2026

Speaking openly to Putin cost me 10 years in prison. Real dissent costs a Russian businessman his freedom or his fortune. Melnichenko still has both. So what did The Economist actually publish? Join today's NEST briefing to find out: zoom.us/webinar/regi...

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 10/07/2026

As the fuel crisis hits 35% of the population and Putin's approval ratings drop, some drivers are abandoning traditional solutions

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 09/07/2026

Russian men dying young is not new. They've been dying from drinking, neglect, broken health system. Male life expectancy only crawled back to 66 by 2019. Then Putin marched the survivors to the front (🧵1/7)

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 08/07/2026

From dissecting "Balkan fashion" to Macron's sunglasses. This is a good example of how Kremlin spins tiny details to build a completely alternate reality.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 08/07/2026

The face of a man who can't use his Black Sea palace in peak season

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 07/07/2026

The chronicles of Putin's energy crisis: the Kursk Oblast governor is now urging officials to conserve fuel by moving meetings online

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 06/07/2026

The Vologda region governor now says his government car ran out of gasoline, leaving him to bum a ride from a stranger to get to work. It happened just an hour after he told residents there was no reason to stock up on fuel.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 06/07/2026

"You're not going anywhere! Let them out!". In the Urals, mothers physically tried to stop their sons from being sent back to the war with Ukraine. 🧵(Read on — 1/4)

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 16/06/2026

Daniil Mukhametov, 21, jumped from a moving train to avoid fighting Putin's war. Lithuanian helicopters searched for him — and, fearing deportation, he crossed into Finland. Finland declined his asylum request.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 09/06/2026

More broadly, this speech is good primary-source evidence for why the Putin regime should be treated as a terrorist threat. It requires permanent war as the organizing principle because there are other sources of legitimacy left. [11/12]

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 09/06/2026

It’s becoming an issue as he ages, but keeping it that way is existential for the regime. As for the bioweapons, no one in Russia has substantiated this threat, and it’s hard to see this as anything other than a former spy advocating for bigger budgets for the corrupt spy agencies. [9/12]

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 09/06/2026

“They’ve lost their fear.” A spy who inspired “The Americans” uses “Putin’s Davos” to suggest blowing up LNG tankers bound for Europe. (🧵Here’s what else he said)

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 29/05/2026

"We're talking about purely economic matters" quickly turned into "You should let us replace you with a Russian citizen." Putin's got ants in his pants as his meddling in Armenia's elections fails — here's how it's playing out: blog.khodorkovsky.com/p/filling-th...

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 26/05/2026

The Kremlin's preferred candidate for Armenian prime minister (elections are on June 7th) has "IC 1706 FSB" listed as his workplace in Russian passport records — designation typically used for informants and foreigners operating under FSB supervision: blog.khodorkovsky.com/p/filling-th...

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 18/05/2026

Putin has chosen Britain as his number one enemy. His agents are already inside the UK, preparing to strike. 🧵Here are the three tools the Kremlin will use — and why he won't stop. [1/13]

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 15/05/2026

Remember Putin's approval hitting a wartime low? The state pollster has changed its methodology. No more phone calls: staff show up at your door and ask, in person, whether you support the president — number rose the same week!

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 13/05/2026

Turns out, three Kaliningrad officials handled the cover-up, and their names belong on the record. The first: Yelena Dyatlova, head of the city administration. Within minutes of the body being found, she was informed and took personal control of the situation. [8/15]

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 13/05/2026

Okunev was 37 years old, an IT worker in Kaliningrad, and the kind of man almost no one would have noticed. Colleagues said he was kind and fair, if a bit strange. He had almost no friends and never spoke about politics — at least not aloud. [2/15]

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 13/05/2026

Alexander Okunev set himself on fire at a Soviet WWII memorial in Kaliningrad on the third anniversary of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. In his suicide note, he wrote that he knew no one would ever hear about him. 🧵He was almost right [1/15]

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 12/05/2026

The Kremlin filmed Putin greeting a "random passerby". Turns out, the man works for the firm managing Putin's villas and the property of Alina Kabaeva's mother (the gymnast reported as his partner). Knowing Putin, even planted strangers don't shock anymore.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 12/05/2026

I have listened to Putin speak for over twenty years. Last week, he did something I have not seen since the full-scale war began: he called Zelenskyy 'господин Зеленский.' Mr. Zelenskyy. That single word is why a negotiated peace now feels within reach (🧵 Read on)

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 30/04/2026

“Go hide in a damp, rat-filled basement yourself, Mr. Putin.” Russian women’s furious message to the Kremlin: you started this war, then left us with nowhere to shelter when it — predictably — came back home.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 22/04/2026

Is Bulgaria the next Hungary? For one second at his closing rally, Rumen Radev put a photo of himself shaking Putin's hand on the screen behind him. Three days later, he won. Kremlin propaganda is celebrating. [1/2]

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 26/03/2026

Putin's most powerful weapon in this war isn't the Oreshnik missile. It is something far cheaper and infinitely more scalable: lies. Shameless lies literally capture cities — here're some examples: khodorkovsky.substack.com/p/putins-pha...

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 16/03/2026

Congratulations to everyone involved in 'Mr. Nobody Against Putin' on winning the Oscar for Best Documentary. It’s an extraordinarily insightful film that shows exactly how dictatorships sink their claws into institutions and use them to shape everyday life under their rule. 1/4

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 05/03/2026

This is Natalya Yakimova. She supported Putin's war and helped Russian soldiers. Then a Russian missile killed her adopted son and grandson in Ukraine — and she changed her mind.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 03/03/2026

"If Russia's worst enemies wanted to destroy it, they'd do exactly what Putin does" — this is what I said in my last interview with Echo of Moscow in 2022.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 02/03/2026

For 4 years, the Kremlin ignored my book about building a democratic Russia. Then PACE created a formal dialogue with the Russian opposition — within days, the book was declared extremist. (🧵Read on)

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 27/02/2026

For 11 years, Putin's been trying to erase Boris Nemtsov's memory from this bridge: sweeping away flowers, removing tributes, pressuring mourners. Today, at the exact time and spot of his assassination, dozens gathered for a minute of silence: the memorial still stands. Video: SOTA

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 27/02/2026

My friend Boris Nemtsov was murdered eleven years ago today. He was one of the few who openly challenged Putin, and it cost him his life. The case was solved just enough to bury it. 🧵 [1/10]

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 26/02/2026

Alexander Dotsenko and his wife Anastasia Dyudyaeva were jailed for anti-war leaflets in a supermarket. He had a heart attack in a penal colony and died at 65. Today she was denied permission to attend his funeral.

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 18/02/2026

China is also the principal beneficiary of the war in Ukraine. The largest war in Europe since WW2 distracted America from the Indo-Pacific, weakened Europe, and let Beijing fill the vacuum left by Western firms leaving Russia. [4/12]

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 18/02/2026

The imbalance in what each side gets is stark: Russia exports oil, gas, and raw materials. China sends back electronics, machinery, and manufactured goods. Russia here is a commodity supplier, not an equal partner by any means. [3/12]

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 18/02/2026

Putin sold Russia's partnership with China as a triumph of multipolarity. In reality, he's turned Russia into Beijing's discount gas station — and a new report lays out exactly how deep the dependency goes. (🧵Read on — 1/12)

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 18/02/2026

After Wagner’s failed rebellion in June 2023 and the death of its founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, many assumed the network would fracture. Instead, parts of it were absorbed into the Russian state’s security apparatus, particularly the GRU. [2/15]

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 18/02/2026

Wagner was supposed to collapse after Prigozhin's death. Instead, parts of it were absorbed by Russian military intelligence and are now recruiting vulnerable Europeans to commit sabotage on their own soil. [1/15]

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 12/02/2026

Georgy Avaliani didn't want to kill Ukrainians. For that, he was thrown in a basement and tortured. He escaped Russia on his third attempt. 🧵Now Germany says he can go back safely. Germany is wrong — [1/10]

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 04/02/2026

The Abu Dhabi talks won't end the war—but they're far from pointless. Here's what they could actually achieve, and why Putin may be forced to soften his demands within months: [1/8]

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 03/02/2026

A Bangladeshi janitor arrived in Russia expecting a cleaning job. Within weeks, he was sent to the front lines in Ukraine with a rifle in his hands. Read on to learn how Putin is avoiding another round of mobilization: [1/12]

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 02/02/2026

An IT specialist was deported back to Russia at the weekend after being detained for jaywalking in Kazakhstan. The moment his plane landed in Russia, he was arrested for treason. 🧵 The walls are closing in for those fleeing the Putin regime [1/10]

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Mikhail Khodorkovsky @khodorkovsky.com · 29/01/2026

For years, the West didn't know what to do with Russians who reject Putin. Engage them? Ignore them? Sanction them anyway? That confusion just ended. PACE has launched a formal platform for Russian democratic forces. 🧵Here's why this matters [1/14]

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