Chapter 5 Chapter 4 Russian Khodorkovsky: A Dream of Two Worlds

In 2002, on the China Rich List, a Dutch Chinese man named Yang Bin ended his dream of wealth: this 43-year-old man with 900 million US dollars was suspected of false capital contribution, illegal occupation of agricultural land, contract fraud, and financial forgery. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison for 6 crimes, including tickets and suspected bribery of units. People lament that 900 million wealth will be wiped out in one day.However, if the time is postponed for another 3 years, in today's increasingly developed media, when it becomes a living fact that wealth evaporated by 13 billion US dollars in just one year, what kind of emotion can we make?

On the night of March 11, 2005, when many billionaires were looking for their names on the Forbes 2005 Global Rich List just announced, Khodorkovsky, who was two years younger than Yang Bin, could only Moscow's "Sailor's Silence" detention center reads a newspaper provided by the prison warden.As if it were a dream, this person who owned 15.2 billion US dollars in 2004 not only lost his freedom, but also left only 2.2 billion US dollars in wealth - no one like him in just one year, Bury your own empire. The facts seem to be even crueler. After "Forbes" announced the list, Khodorkovsky's lawyers believe that Khodorkovsky's current net worth is estimated to be less than 100 million U.S. dollars-he is no longer a The beneficiary of the Menatep Group founded by himself is no longer the shareholder of Yukos, which ultimately killed him.In other words, a person who had $15.2 billion a year ago now only has assets of $100 million.

"A negative teaching material that cannot adapt to changes in the rules of the game." China's "Global Entrepreneur" magazine commented on the former richest man in Russia. But in our opinion, the rapidly failing Mikhail Khodorkovsky has never acknowledged Putin's rules of the game—he has been trying to make the rules himself in a new field.He drifts between two worlds, one is his own economic empire, in which he is considered a dictator; the other is someone else's political empire, in which he is considered a provocateur and threat.He is trying to find a fulcrum between the two worlds and use his economic empire to change Russian politics.

That's the real reason for his downfall. We can also regard him as the last specimen of the Russian oligarchic economy. In this country once controlled by the seven oligarchs, Khodorkovsky became the last one of the seven oligarchs to be drained, and he fell worse than Others are more dramatic, more of a "martyr" flavor.After all, he was once regarded as the most pragmatic and politically wise of the seven oligarchs. "Just as we have no right to enjoy wealth without creating wealth, we also have no right to enjoy happiness without creating happiness." This sentence of the 19th century British playwright Bernard Shaw seems to be a reflection of the fate of these Russian oligarchs.

It is now clear that Khodorkovsky once split his economic empire just as he tried to control both worlds. From his birth in 1963 to the beginning of 2000, it can be considered as Khodorkovsky's first life. In 1963, Khodorkovsky was born in an ordinary collective apartment in Moscow, his parents were engineers.Maybe it was because his parents both worked in factories. His ideal at that time was to be the director of a Soviet factory.Because he often expressed his thoughts to his peers, when he was five years old, his friends gave him the nickname "factory manager". The young Khodorkovsky had an amazing talent for earning money. He once helped a candy company load and unload goods to earn pocket money. When he was studying at the Mendeev Institute of Chemical Engineering, he also held an ax to guard the payroll on the Trans-Siberian Railway. , worked as a mechanic in a factory, and his income was even higher than that of his father.

At the age of 23, Khodorkovsky almost embarked on an official career. In this year, he became the deputy secretary of the Moscow Frunze District Committee of the Communist Youth League.No one can tell now why he chose this job, whether it is because he really leans towards politics or because he hopes to get rich through politics, just like some years later. But whatever the reason, almost everything about Khodorkov The records of how Ski obtained his first fortune in his early years are believed to be inseparable from his work in the Communist Youth League.At that time, the Communist Youth League of the Soviet Union began to allow members to start businesses, exempt from taxes and keep profits.

After graduating from university in 1986, Khodorkovsky, who was close to the water, founded a coffee shop with five or six partners. After failing, he established the "Youth Science and Technology Creation Center". The factory sold new technologies, consulted, resold imported PCs (later assembled by himself), and even resold French brandy, completing his first accumulation of wealth.Khodorkovsky said that many of the clients at the time were even government agencies in the former Soviet Union.In fact, the "Youth Science and Technology Creation Center" was the Minatep Technology and Trade Co., Ltd. founded by Khodorkovsky. The company began to deal in Cuban brown sugar, a traditional daily consumer product of the Soviets at that time.At that time, there was a barter trade between Cuba and Cuba. Khodorkovsky provided Cuba with Soviet oil in exchange for brown sugar.According to legend, Khodorkovsky won this trade opportunity after giving a lot of benefits to those who were in charge of foreign trade in the country at that time.

Khodorkovsky's wealth-generating wisdom is unparalleled.In addition to trade, he began to use the support of the Communist Youth League to obtain a lot of benefits.In the late 1980s, the Soviet Union had two currencies: one was cash; the other was "non-cash credit", which was actually a virtual currency issued by the government to factories and enterprises as subsidies.Nominally, "cashless credit" cannot be exchanged for cash.With the support of the Komsomol, Khodorkovsky was allowed to receive "non-cash credits" from his factory customers, deposited in banks and withdrawn in cash.Khodorkovsky then used the cash rubles to buy hard currencies such as dollars.It is said that in less than two years, Huo's annual income reached 80 million rubles (equivalent to 130 million U.S. dollars at the official exchange rate at the time, and 10 million U.S. dollars at the black market exchange rate), and he was promoted to the second secretary of the Moscow City Committee of the Communist Youth League. .

The late 1980s were years of good fortune for Khodorkovsky. At the beginning of 1988, Khodorkovsky got acquainted with a man named Grubovich, whose parents both worked in the Soviet Bank and had prominent official positions.In 1989, when the economic reforms of the Soviet Union started and the regulation of commercial banks began to be relaxed, Khodorkovsky founded Menatep Bank through the relationship of Grubovich’s parents and became the first batch of bankers in the Soviet Union to obtain a banking business license. A private enterprise, Menatep Bank even became the first private bank and the first listed company in the former Soviet Union since the "October Revolution".

In addition, Menatep became the first bank to open foreign currency exchange in Moscow in 1991, and opened a precedent for advertising on TV. Menatep not only provides financing for Khodorkovsky's own trading business, but also handles more state funds, such as the distribution of pensions for victims of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident. After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, high inflation and skyrocketing interest rates allowed Menatep, who was good at lending and foreign exchange trading games, to grow rapidly. Of course, Khodorkovsky also made a fortune. A man like Khodorkovsky never misses an opportunity that history offers.Russia’s privatization movement began in the 1990s. In this largest state-owned asset privatization movement so far, Khodorkovsky, who “never thought of being a banker,” faced two choices at the time : Either be a banker for life, or become a financial expert in Russia's huge industrial field.He chose the latter.Khodorkovsky started his buying spree through Menatep.By 1995, Menatep had controlled more than 40 industrial companies (two years later, this number became more than 100), with tentacles involving real estate, steel, plastics, textiles, chemicals (including Apatit, which later got into trouble) and food, etc. field, with 15,000 employees and assets of US$2.1 billion.

Regarding these acquisitions, Khodorkovsky once said triumphantly: "In Russia, you can't be satisfied with making a lot of money in trade, because no one will understand it. You will not be at ease, you will be Extortion will be investigated and prosecuted by government agencies, and even your parents will no longer respect you. In the end, you will be strangled to death." The rapid expansion of Khodorkovsky's wealth, which started by flipping fake PCs many years ago, is Russia's largest resource - oil. In December 1995, a consortium headed by Menatep acquired a 78% stake in Yukos at an ultra-low price of US$350 million.This price is unacceptable to many people: it is too cheap-Yukos was valued at 700 million US dollars at the time, and when it was listed on the Moscow Exchange in 1997, its market value was as high as 7 billion US dollars. "Someone made a deal between politics and money," local media said.This person, of course, refers to Khodorkovsky. This transaction was just one of the "debt-to-equity swap" plans thrown out by Yeltsin at the time. Yeltsin reached an agreement with the giants involved in the plan: the government sold its shares in large steel and oil companies to oligarchs, and in When Yeltsin is running for re-election, the oligarch alliance, including Huo's, will give full support.The most famous seven oligarchs in Russian history were formally formed. After the transaction was completed, Khodorkovsky became a powerful figure in Russia. However, Khodorkovsky at this stage was very different from other plutocrats. On the one hand, he did not deny that he had a good relationship with the government On the other hand, Khodorkovsky kept emphasizing to the Western media the importance of alignment between business and government: “We have to understand that the (Russian) government is still very important to business. Why is it so important? If the Prime Minister asks me to resign from Menatep, I will do so quickly." He even said to his staff: "I don't own anything, I rent it." This low profile makes him very special among the seven oligarchs, and when he said these words, Berezovsky, who is considered to be the "Russian academician oligarch", was preaching everywhere that he and the other six oligarchs ( Khodorkovsky (the youngest of them all) controls nearly half of Russia's economy. A political moderate, Khodorkovsky is considered a powerful man in business, where many say he is a dictatorial king. “He switched jobs a lot. Those groups that were assigned to work on projects would find that there was always another group working on the same project with them. This constant sense of crisis made employees feel that working at Yukos was like doing something. Extreme sports," said one of his employees. Khodorkovsky tried to transform Yukos in the direction he imagined, and his series of actions made him look like a tyrant. ——After taking over Yukos, he installed closed-circuit television in the company and fired employees who performed poorly. It is said that he fired thousands of employees with alcohol habits in just a few months after taking over.Oil field workers in Yukos complained that they would be lucky if they could receive 10% of the monthly salary of US$12.50 that should have been paid three months ago.And this 10% salary is just to keep you from starving and keep working for him. ——In 1998, when oil prices fell in the international market, Yukos deliberately defaulted on the promised tax payment to the city of Nefteyugansk.Soon after, the mayor of the city was shot dead.As a result, the mayor's funeral turned into a demonstration against Yukos. Workers who were owed wages and about 40,000 fired workers stormed Yukos' offices in Siberia, smashing glass and computers. ——Since 1997, Khodorkovsky has adopted a variety of methods to consolidate his control over Yukos. For example, when a major shareholder meeting is about to be held and there is a very critical vote, shareholders will be informed of the meeting The location was suddenly changed to another distant city - it was impossible to catch up. ——In 1998, the Russian financial crisis broke out, and many banks failed, and Menatep was not immune.Huo quickly transferred Menatep's high-quality assets to other financial institutions under his control, and the administrator appointed by the bankruptcy court was unable to obtain Menatep's complete financial status at this time-this is partly because all A truck with financial documents mysteriously falls into the Volga.Huo then persuaded the banks that lent him money to accept his proposed three-year repayment plan, secured by Yukos' oil exports rather than shares.The largest creditors, Daiwa Bank and Western Commercial Bank, refused to accept the plan, and turned their mortgages into 29% of Yukos shares, which greatly shook Huo's control over Yukos.Unexpectedly, after the negotiations between the two parties completely broke down in the summer of 1999, the two banks sold their Yukos shares in the market, and the proceeds were only half of the original loan. ………… Despite having billions of dollars in property, Khodorkovsky's series of illegal practices have ruined his image. Western media even described him as Russia's "robber baron". All of this seems to belong to history. In 2000, Khodorkovsky completed a change of image in a short period of time, becoming the most upright and even kindest man in today's oligarchs. Explaining his own transformation, he cited Rockefeller as an example. He said: "He was not the most innocent person, his son was better, and his grandson was a perfect upright person. It took 100 years, It took me a few years to do it." Maybe no one will know why he has such a major change, but it is largely related to Putin's appointment and the restoration of law and order in a chaotic Russia. ——In June 2000, the Yukos board of directors voted and passed the resolution of "good corporate governance". Among the 11 directors, 5 are overseas experts.Yukos has started to report its past earnings in accordance with US GAAP and pay dividends to shareholders: an anomaly among Russian companies.Huo's also compensated depositors who suffered losses during Menatep's bankruptcy.He even preached to other oligarchs about the importance of "responsibility" and "transparency".Yukos, which was known for violating the rights and interests of minority shareholders in the past, has suddenly become a model of transparent corporate governance among large Russian companies. ——In 2001, Khodorkovsky announced to the outside world that Yukos would become Russia's first real multinational company.Huoshi began to introduce "airborne troops", including chief financial officer Bruce Misamo who jumped over from the US Pennz Energy oil company.This move was praised by a large number of Western media. ——In the same year, Khodorkovsky imitated Soros' "Open Society" fund and established the "Open Russia" fund.Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and British philanthropist Sir Rothschild are both members of the board. ——Since 2000, Khodorkovsky took the initiative to communicate with the editors-in-chief of famous newspapers such as "New York Times" and "Wall Street Journal". He made frequent donations, and his recipients include American think tanks and the Library of Congress.In 2002, Laura Bush's favorite "National Book Festival" project also received a donation of 100,000 US dollars from Huoshi. The change is all-round, and the handsome and charming Khodorkovsky is even refreshing in appearance-he replaced the Soviet-style glasses he used to wear with the rimless glasses respected by Westerners. Khodorkovsky seems to be trying to make his image more acceptable through Western society. After these efforts, he was received by US National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice and Vice President Dick Cheney, and had a meeting with the Bushes. Group photo.In his office, there are photos of him with dignitaries from various countries. In July 2002, he met with the U.S. Secretary of Energy to discuss U.S. energy policy. When former U.S. President Bush Sr. visited Russia in September of that year, he attended a banquet hosted by Huo Shi and gave a speech. In addition to these dazzling political rather than economic star glory, Khodorkovsky's wealth has also begun to grow wildly, and Yukos' market value has risen from US$350 million that year to US$20 billion in 2002.Khodorkovsky told the media that he holds a 36.3% stake in Yukos.He became the first of all Russian oligarchs to officially disclose his wealth. "Yes, I have changed a lot now, but people change with time, and they mature from it." Khodorkovsky said to others.In addition to the sudden change in corporate behavior, the many living habits and hobbies revealed by Khodorkovsky have increasingly made people wonder whether he is a Russian oligarch: he also watches action movies, reads science fiction, dances disco, and usually wears He wears a suit without a tie, and wears an ordinary watch with a plastic strap. His biggest hobby is collecting wallets and folders. How Khodorkovsky went from a suave, well-connected, apolitical tycoon to an outspoken "democracy fighter" seems a mystery, not even to himself.While some other oligarchs are keen on the traditional pastimes of the rich, such as making friends with international celebrities or showing off their wealth, Khodorkovsky chose differently. He lived a very modest life. He took his family to Finland Vacationing, the house you live in is not much different from the house most upper-middle-class people live in.He believed that inherited wealth corrupted the soul.He told the media that he plans to leave about $1 million to each of his four children.He sees his second vocation as returning the wealth he has earned to Russia. Khodorkovsky's wealth is no longer a mystery, but he began to make people wonder. Life can be divided into two parts, but the origin of wealth will always be investigated. Perhaps recognizing this, as early as 2000, Khodorkovsky began to publish a distinctive concept of wealth, which he believed to be "nominal": If Russia's political and economic climate continues to improve , the value of Yukos right now is underestimated; if it goes bad, the value of wealth means nothing. It is a pity that while Khodorkovsky continued to downplay the influence of wealth on individuals, he began to rely on wealth to move to another field. In 2001, Khodorkovsky said: "I know how to end my business career, I will build the best company in Russia and internationalize it." His timetable is: 2007 On its 45th birthday, Yukos became truly international and stepped down from its post. The announcement of this timetable seems to be the beginning of a nightmare. Observers analyzed that this timetable of Khodorkovsky shows that he will enter another field: by 2008, according to the Russian Constitution, Putin, who has been re-elected for two terms The president must leave office. The speculation is well-founded, and a series of interesting phenomena are the foreshadowing of his desire to leave the economy and turn to politics. As early as 2001, he told the media: "Making money doesn't mean anything, building a society is meaningful." Grubovich, the financial director of Yukos, who has been with Huo for 15 years, said: " Khodorkovsky's broad imagination does not allow him to be just a businessman, and his firm will, strategic thinking, and management talent all make his transition to the political field inevitable." In addition, Khodorkovsky, who started his career relying on politics, obviously has a clearer understanding of the evolution of Russia's capital process. He knows that those companies that got rich overnight in the first stage must transform into holding companies, investing huge sums of money in industry, Raw materials and real estate fields.In Russia, oil industry giants are considered the most effective lobbyists in the Duma, with long-term influence on tax and regulatory policies.On the basis of this analysis, Khodorkovsky chose a two-way bet: he has his own representatives in parliament and spends heavily on opposition parties.According to sources, in April 2001, Huoshi reached an agreement with the leaders of the two major opposition parties in the Duma, and transferred tens of millions of dollars to the accounts of these opposition parties during the parliamentary election on December 7, 2002. On July 3, 2003, at the time of the arrest of Platon Lebedev, chairman of Russia's Menatep International Financial Group, who is also a major shareholder of Yukos oil company, Khodorkov Sky publicly said: "I have never said that big business must not touch politics." He said: "Like every citizen in this country, every big business has the right to engage in politics. In this country, big business's One mission is to maintain a certain amount of political and economic influence." In early October of the same year, in a speech at the "Carnegie Foundation" in Washington, Huo said: "Russian society will have to adapt to the fact that people can do whatever they want with money." The confrontation between two men who are considered the most powerful contemporary Russia begins.In fact, Putin, who believes in "manageable democracy", has always allowed the existence of different political opinions, but hates those who really threaten his power. He believes that Khodorkovsky, who has huge wealth, may be the only one in Russia that can single-handedly attack Putin. A political attacker, from the perspective of personality, he is also a person who dares to challenge everything. After Khodorkovsky was imprisoned, media analysts believed that Putin had actually given Khodorkovsky several opportunities, but he turned a deaf ear. The first confrontation between Huoshi and Putin began in February 2002.At that time, Putin met with the oligarchs, and the entire meeting was broadcast live on TV."Corruption is spreading in this country," Hobson told Putin in the live broadcast, which was watched across Russia, referring to state-owned Rosneft's takeover of a small oil company, which Hobbit said was $600 million. The purchase price in dollars is too high, and someone may be profiting improperly from this transaction. Putin responded: Huoshi himself obtained huge oil assets from the state. "The question is, how did he get it," Putin said. After this confrontation, Huo Shi did not heed the political signals sent by Putin, but continued to give generously to the opposition party as always.Huo's also sparred with the government over oil pipelines.In Russia, pipelines are controlled by the government to ensure control of the oil industry, and controlling the oil industry is equivalent to controlling more than half of the entire Russian industrial field-in today's Russia, the oil and gas industry accounts for the government. The market capitalization of energy companies accounts for 75%-85% of the total market capitalization of the Russian stock market.Yukos has long clamored to build its own pipeline that would allow it to send oil to northern Russia and eventually to the United States. After this confrontation, Putin began to publicly warn the oligarchs on more occasions. He told the reporter of the New York Times: "Some people in Russia suddenly became rich and became billionaires... Now, they feel that God seems to be Snooze, they can do whatever they want. In fact, they tried to create an oligarchic system in Russia, that is, some well-known politicians in the front stage hide some oligarchs who don't want to show their faces, but these oligarchs formulate Political decision-making in the sense of the whole nation. These oligarchs are very good at manipulating public opinion, and now they also want to control the mass media in the same way they seized state-owned assets back then, making it serve their group interests and replace national interests with group interests." When he said these words, what was Khodorkovsky doing? He was inspecting various federal subjects in Russia.According to Russian media, Huo's tours in various places are almost the same as the specifications of the president and prime minister. The schedule includes meeting with governors, entrepreneurs and elites of the knowledge society.Everywhere he went, he made a wish to invest and support the local government, and promised to pay for the construction of schools and online schools. His purpose was to establish an "equal and open civil society" in Russia.In addition to these so-called "inspections" that are highly political in the country, Huo Shi also criticized on international issues. He believes that the Russian government should stand with the United States on the issue of the Iraq war.He also bought the Moscow News, a newspaper known for its criticism of Putin's policies, as a front from which to attack the government. In the eyes of the Kremlin, Hobson's most provocative move may be his secret plan to turn Russia into a purely parliamentary political system and install himself as prime minister.Until his imprisonment, Huoshi firmly believed that because he was Jewish, he would never be elected president.To do this, he needs to change the political system, including amending the constitution so that he can be prime minister in the new system.People close to Huo Shi said that he did have this intention.Berezovsky, who is also one of the seven oligarchs and is now in exile, provided a more extreme version: Huoshi told him that in the spring of 2002 he had a meeting with Putin. During the meeting, Huoshi suggested that Russia should Transition to a true parliamentary democracy.In this system, he becomes prime minister and Putin becomes the ceremonial leader. Unlike many Russian oligarchs who once clamored to participate in politics, Khodorkovsky has almost washed away his "original sin".If he stops here, maybe he is still the richest man in Russia now, but he chooses to directly confront politics. In May 2003, Putin was said to have been confronted with a political advisory report on a possible coup attempt by the oligarchs.In response, at a government briefing in June 2003, the Kremlin specially arranged for the first question to be asked about the "oligarchic revolution."Putin's answer at the time was: Russia will never "allow individual business people to influence the political life of the country for their company's interests." "Those who do not agree with this principle." Putin added that the lessons of those who have failed should be remembered. "Some people have disappeared forever, and others are far away."He was referring to Berezovsky and Gusinsky in exile. Khodorkovsky has decided to go his own way, and in his view, alignment with the Kremlin has become something to be ridiculed.He got so close to politics that even ordinary Russians began to wonder whether he was a businessman or a politician. But Putin is not Yeltsin. There is no clear relationship between the former KGB and the oligarchs. He even has a large number of voters because he firmly opposes the oligarchs. Regarding Lebedev's arrest, the "Independent" stated that one person was handcuffed, and the other person felt uncomfortable.Because Lebedev is an important shareholder of the Yukos oil company controlled by Khodorkovsky, Putin still hopes that Khodorkovsky can give up his political fantasies. What happened next pushed both strongmen onto the road of confrontation. On July 4, 2003, Huo participated in the Independence Day celebration of the US Embassy in Russia. On July 5, Huo was summoned by the prosecution department.Then, he went to Idaho, USA to attend a business gathering with Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and other heavyweights present. Many believed that Khodorkovsky's trip was his best chance to get out of the crisis in Russia, but surprisingly, Khodorkovsky returned to Moscow after the party in the United States. "I thought he would go into exile," said one Russian tycoon, "but he was determined to be a dissident." "He will not compromise," said Berezovsky, who is in exile in the UK. "Some people can stop expressing themselves and choose hypocrisy; others think their opinions are important. This is Khodorkov. Ski. He won't let them break him." Huo Shi, who returned to his homeland, said that he was sure that Russia's new democracy could help and protect his rights and interests in Yukos.Not only did he not let his flag down, but he used Lebedev's arrest to openly criticize the Putin regime, believing that Putin was stepping back into the era of centralized power.Yukos has also set up outdoor billboards "We are united" all over Russia, and a special discussion on "sniping Yukos" also appeared on its company website. In mid-October of this year, Huo Shi met with his personal lawyer.A lawyer who was present at the time recalled that Huo said he knew he would be arrested and was prepared for it.To the Western media who came to interview, Huo Shi also said the same, saying that he is still very young and very rich, and that the authorities will release him one day, after which he will continue his "war".He even joked that by cutting his hair short, he prepared himself for being caught by the authorities and sent to prison. Until Oct. 25, in his last interview before his arrest, Huo maintained his contempt for the Putin regime. "They need to show that even the most transparent companies in this country are not safe." It all ended in less than five minutes. At about 5:00 am on October 25, 2003, Moscow time, a "Tu 134" special plane landed at Tolmachevo Airport in Novosibirsk, Russia, and was about to refuel, but was stopped by more than a dozen vehicles with flashing police lights. Army vehicles surrounded.These heavily armed, masked Special Forces soldiers and agents in black uniforms quickly rushed into the cabin, shouting "Federal Security Service, put the gun on the ground, or open fire"! In the third year of the 21st century when the Seven Oligarchs were in exile or silence, the last hope among them was also shattered, and Khodorkovsky became another prisoner. After being arrested like a Hollywood movie plot, Khodorkovsky was detained in Russia's famous "Sailor's Silence" prison.The prison was built in the 1950s to detain important political prisoners.Three days later, he was transferred to Moscow Prison No. 4 with better conditions.Russian prosecutors interrogated Huo on the day of his arrest and immediately took him to criminal court, asking the court to authorize the arrest.Regarding the reasons for this arrest, the procuratorate pointed out that Khodorkovsky had committed seven crimes including fraud, tax evasion, forgery of official documents, use of deception to cause property damage to others, embezzlement of property, and refusal to execute court judgments. The matter is related to the acquisition of state-owned assets 10 years ago.The Moscow court ruled that Khodorkovsky should be imprisoned, Interfax reported.The Russian General Prosecutor's Office stated that Khodorkovsky's company and its affiliates illegally seized funds and tax evasion amounted to more than 1 billion US dollars.If all charges against Fok are proven, he could be jailed for up to 10 years. Shortly after being imprisoned, Khodorkovsky issued a statement through his lawyer: "I do not regret anything I have done, nor do I regret what happened today." Since then, people close to him He said that Huo Shi is considering running in the presidential election in March next year, even in prison. Eight days later, Khodorkovsky, who was in prison, said he would resign as president and would no longer hold any post in the merged Yukos-Sib oil company.The outside world believes that Khodorkovsky, who was detained on suspicion of huge tax evasion and fraud and other crimes, did this to separate his case from the entire company's business in order to reduce the company's losses.Yukos formed a new board of directors to stabilize the current situation and prevent the company's normal business from being seriously affected. On November 11, 2003, the Basmany District Court in Moscow, Russia, made a ruling rejecting Khodorkovsky's appeal for bail, which means that Khodorkovsky will be detained until at least December in accordance with the requirements of the procuratorate. 30 days. On December 22, 2003, Khodorkovsky appeared in a Moscow court for a hearing on the extension of his detention.The Russian General Prosecutor's Office requested another three-month extension of his detention. On the morning of March 19, 2004, a district court in Moscow opened a trial again, and Khodorkovsky was tried for nearly seven hours.In the final judgment, Huo's detention period was limited to May 25 of that year. On this day, Khodorkovsky is still dreaming about freedom.In court, he told some reporters what he thought: "I believe that I did not commit a crime. Some people have been accusing me of meddling in politics, and I don't think this accusation is justified. What Russia's current economy needs requires political support. Politics should serve economic construction. Only in this way can Russia's economy develop at a high speed. After regaining freedom, I will continue to pursue my pursuit and do more good things for the society." Khodorkovsky said with a strong tone Say.This became his last strong speech. Ten days later, the Russian "Business Daily" published a "Letter of Repentance" written by Huo Shi in prison - "The Crisis of Russian Liberalism".In the letter, he resignedly wrote: "We should end all actions that doubt the legitimacy of the president, because it is pointless. Whether we like Vladimir Putin or not, we should realize that the Russian president is not An ordinary man, the president is the mechanism that keeps the country united and stable, and maybe God prevents us from letting that system collapse." The oil tycoon even described his former arch-rival Putin as a "defender of liberal democracy," saying in the article: "Yes, Putin is neither a liberal nor a democrat, but he still比我们国家中70%的人口更向往自由和民主。”此种表态，被全球媒体看作是霍多尔科夫斯基自2003年10月被捕以来首次向克里姆林宫公开妥协。 不过一切已经太晚了，以俄罗斯司法程序，一般的案件从检察机关交由法院审理，必须在50—80个工作日内对案件作出判决。霍多尔科夫斯基从2003年10月25日被捕，到2003年12月下旬法院作出延期一个审理程序，推到次年3月25日。2004年3月19日，法院再次推迟一个审理程序，延期到5月25日。这已经说明游戏将是没有时间终点的，由于参与这场政治游戏的玩方太多，牵涉到重大的国家利益，普京似乎也难以在一时准确地平衡入局各方的力量。 普京会不会考虑在完成3月总统大选后释放这个“敌人”呢答案是否定的，也许他太谨慎了。普京并没有在5月宣誓就职后释放霍氏，继续在监狱里等待审判是霍多尔科夫斯基唯一的选择。 2004年，霍多尔科夫斯基明显老去了，因为他最后的资本也开始风雨飘摇。 2004年12月19日，俄罗斯联邦财产基金会对尤科斯公司旗下最大的子公司尤甘斯克大部分股份进行公开拍卖，起拍价预定为86亿美元。名不见经传的“贝加尔金融集团”出人意料地以93.7亿美元的价格购得了尤甘斯克公司76.79％的股份。仅仅用了五分钟，霍多尔科夫斯基曾经拥有的这个挣钱机器就成了别人的产业。 12月22日，国有的俄罗斯石油公司又吞并贝加尔这个尤科斯的神秘买家，从而收购了刚刚拍得尤科斯子公司尤甘斯克76.79%股份的贝加尔金融集团公司，成为这些股份的新持有者。这使尤甘斯克最终又回到了国家的控制之中。而在这次收购后，尤甘斯克与俄天然气工业股份公司、俄石油公司并到一起，从而可跻身世界最大石油公司的行列。 也许这才是普京苦苦等待的一天。而随着大量尤科斯公司旗下子公司被拍卖或者收购，以及政府要求其偿还所欠税款，尤科斯最终的命运，似乎只有破产。 没有多少人对霍多尔科夫斯基的未来再抱有希望了，而我们的话题也要回到2005年3月，霍多尔科夫斯基被《福布斯》富豪榜认定仍旧拥有22亿美元的财产——但这又有什么用呢？ 在与强权的俄罗斯和普京的斗争中，他的命运已经被注定：和所有历史上的寡头一样，或者流亡，或者默默无闻老去，或者在监狱中等待一个重新审判的时刻。 谈到俄罗斯的富豪，永远绕不开寡头的话题，据说在寡头经济最厉害的时候，俄罗斯的七个集团曾经控制着俄罗斯85%的财富。 事实上，俄罗斯的寡头一直就是世界经济领域的一个奇观，这些“寡头”主要指在20世纪90年代俄罗斯私有化过程中一夜暴富的大资本家。1996年3月的一天，叶利钦秘密召见了七个金融寡头，他们是联合银行总裁别列佐夫斯基、大桥银行总裁古辛斯基、国际商业银行总裁维诺格拉多夫、首都储蓄银行总裁斯摩棱斯基、阿尔法银行总裁弗里德曼、梅纳捷普银行总裁霍多尔科夫斯基、俄罗斯信贷商业银行总裁马尔金。双方达成了一项协议：银行家提供财政支持，确保叶利钦连任；叶利钦则承诺维护寡头的经济利益。这就是后来的“七大寡头”。 这七个人都是头脑灵活、敢于冒险的“精英”，他们几乎都大学毕业，年龄在40—50岁之间，有的得过国家奖金，有的还是科学院通讯院士。这些人加上统一电力公司总裁丘拜斯，基本上控制了国家的油气、动力、冶金业和金融业，并在一定程度上操纵了舆论。 双方第一个回合的较量发生在1998年。这一年，俄罗斯私有化造成的不合理分配结果首次显现出来，一场金融危机伴随着通货膨胀席卷全国。时任总理的普里马科夫曾经试图对付这些经济寡头，同时要“改善国家管理”，限制寡头对政权的控制，但最后遭到罢黜。在第一个回合的较量中，寡头们占了上风。 而国家的胜利则在第二回合，这个回合的主角是普京。2000年5月，普京就任总统几个月后，便开始对经济寡头进行打击，首先拿挑战其内外政策的古辛斯基和别列佐夫斯基开刀，以洗黑钱、侵吞国家财产和诈骗罪对他们提出起诉。两人拒不出庭，逃到国外，被俄总检察院通缉。当局随后又指控波塔宁等五名财阀侵吞国家财产或偷税。 的确到了寡头们付出代价的时候了。正如普京所说：“俄罗斯有一部分人瞬间暴富，变成了亿万富翁，这是通过占有国家财富的方式实现的，他们的财富是国家赋予的，是免费赋予的。连他们自己都承认他们亿万富翁的头衔是国家任命的。”他要开始收拾这些由自己统治的这个国家任命的亿万富翁，而在这个以强势著称的俄罗斯政治领袖面前，所有的寡头都倒下了。让我们像快餐一样消费时装，消费，消费，再消费！