Khodorkovsky & Lebedev Communications Center

In an interview with Day Kiev, Yury Afanasiev, a prominent historian and democratic activist, comments that the institutionalized liberal opposition is the apologist of the Putin regime. Afanasiev notes that this opinion, expressed at the Khodorkovsky readings, has somewhat shocked political figures and intellectuals who were among the audience.

Afanasiev believes that the Russian government is deliberately striving for domination. He noted that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has issued a series of laws that turn people into mere executors. He has established a political and economic system in which people should be outside politics and outside the economy, expanded the rights of the Federal Security Service, and abolished all elections.

This strategy, he concluded, holds no place for Russia's prospects.