Special to WorldTribune.com

by Dr. Jack Caravelli, Geostrategy-Direct

Mikhail Khodorkovsky, once Russia’s richest man and now an empassioned Kremlin critic living in exile in Switzerland, claims that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “manufacturing” the crisis in Ukraine as a way to distract the Russian public and media from the Russian government’s epic corruption.

Khodorkovsky took on Putin in a recent speech to the Atlantic Council, a prominent Washington think tank. He has been at odds with the Russian government, especially its domineering president, for over a decade.

He views it as “inevitable” that Russia’s corrupt power arrangements will collapse, paving the way for Russia to ultimately become an ally of the West.

In his speech, Khodorkovsky did not mention, but could have, that while Putin may be seeking to distract the Russian public by creating an enemy the country can rally against, the Russian president also has reaped enormous political benefit from doing so.

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