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Kremlin Critic Wants Film to Open West's Eyes About Putin's Russia

Reuters

   VENICE, ITALY - Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky hopes a new
   documentary film about his life chronicling his journey from being
   Russia's richest man to an exiled dissident will open the West's eyes
   to the nature of modern Russia.

   The film, "Citizen K", was made by Oscar-winning U.S. filmmaker Alex
   Gibney and premiered at the Venice Film festival this weekend. It was
   based on more than 24 hours of interviews that Khodorkovsky, who is now
   based in Britain, gave over a period of months.

   It tells the story of Khodorkovsky's dramatic 2003 arrest on an icy
   Siberian runway by armed men and his fall from grace, punishment for
   what he and his supporters believe was his interest in Russian politics
   and fighting corruption.

   The bespectacled tycoon, then head of the now defunct Yukos oil
   company, went on to serve a decade in jail on fraud charges he says
   were politically motivated before being freed in 2013 after President
   Vladimir Putin pardoned him.

   "Today's Kremlin regime has learned the art of window dressing very
   well, but it's important to understand that behind these beautiful
   windows there is not just an ordinary authoritarian state but a real
   mafia, which has taken over this state," Khodorkovsky, 56, told
   Reuters.

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