Arm Ukraine now or face war on NATO territory, Khodorkovsky warns
If NATO does not seize its historic opportunity to stop Vladimir Putin in his tracks, it will face war on its own territory, long-time Kremlin opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky has told Euronews.
"Today, NATO has a great opportunity to help Ukraine defend its sovereignty by participating in this war with weapons, supplies and training Ukrainian soldiers, rather than fighting on its own territories," Khodorkovsky told Shona Murray in the Global Conversation. "If this opportunity is missed, I issue a warning: in a few years, or perhaps even earlier, NATO will be directly involved in this war, because it will be happening on the territory of a NATO country."
Oligarch Khodorkovsky was once Russia's richest man, before falling foul of Putin and spending ten years in jail for tax evasion, embezzlement and fraud. He now lives in exile.
Shona Murray: For a significant while in your life you knew Vladimir Putin well. What do you think he's thinking right now and how far can he go with this war?
Mikhail Khodorkovsky: What I see on his part today is a mixture of pragmatism, that is, a desire to strengthen his electoral rating and an emotional response – I mean a kind of paranoid fear of what is happening in the neighbouring country, fear of democratic transformation, the independence that Ukraine has gained.
SM: But at the same time, we saw his incursion in 2008, his takeover of Crimea in 2014. Do you believe that they're separate to this war now or that the war now is triggered, as you said, from COVID and from other issues? Is that what you're saying?
MK: Putin has solved his electoral problems through war four times during his presidency. The first time was '99. Then it was indeed 2008, 2014, and now 2022. The COVID isolation helped form
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