The Russia Conundrum

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

MIKHAIL KHODORKOVSKY

In the early 2000s, Mikhail Khodorkovsky was the wealthiest man in Russia, the head of the giant Yukos oil company, and ranked 16th on the Forbes list of world billionaires. But his pro-democracy, anti-corruption views led to a clash with President Vladimir Putin, who had him arrested in 2003. Convicted on politically motivated fraud charges, Khodorkovsky spent ten years in Putin’s prison camps, recognised by Amnesty International as a prisoner of conscience. Since his release in December 2013, Khodorkovsky has lived in Switzerland and the UK. He now leads the philanthropic Open Russia organisation, promoting political reform in Russia, including free and fair elections, the protection of journalists and activists, the rule of law and media independence. He has been described by the Economist as ‘the Kremlin’s leading critic-in-exile’. You can sign up for email updates here.

MARTIN SIXSMITH

Martin Sixsmith studied Russian at Oxford, Leningrad and the Sorbonne. He was a Slavics Tutor at Harvard and wrote his postgraduate thesis about Russian poetry. From 1980 to 1997 he was the BBC’s correspondent in Moscow, Washington, Brussels and Warsaw. From 1997 to 2002 he worked for the British government as director of communications and press secretary to several cabinet ministers. He is now a writer, presenter and journalist. He is the author of non-fiction titles including Russia – The Wild East, Putin’s Oil and The Litvinenko File. His bestselling 2009 book, The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, was adapted for film and became the multiple Oscar-nominated Philomena, starring Steve Coogan and Judi Dench. You can sign up for email updates here.