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World War Three is the only way to stop Putin, warns Russia’s former richest man

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World War Three is the only way to stop Putin, with NATO countries having to ‘fight for real’, warns Russia’s former richest man – now exiled in Britain

  • Russia’s once richest man says the West will inevitably have to face down Russia
  • The ‘Open Russia’ democracy advocate was jailed in 2003 and pardoned in 2013

A leading Putin foe has warned the West that NATO will inevitably be dragged into war with Russia.

As the West contemplates supplying warplanes to Volodymyr Zelensky, exiled opposition figure Mikhail Khodorkovsky issued a stark analysis that there will be no other way than World War Three to stop the dictator.

‘The NATO countries and the Western Europe will have to fight for real,’ said Russia’s former richest man.

‘Sooner or later, they will have to…fight. The sooner they realise it, the better because Putin can’t stop.

‘Stopping for him is death.’

MBK says the NATO countries and Western Europe will have to fight because Putin can't stop

MBK says the NATO countries and Western Europe will have to fight because Putin can’t stop

Exiled Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky pictured with Vladimir Putin in 2002

Exiled Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky pictured with Vladimir Putin in 2002

Putin ‘might pause to digest territories he conquers’ but then he will continue, mobilising men from the places he conquers.

Khodorkovsky was jailed for a decade under Putin after falling foul of the Russian president.

He was eventually released from jail with a pardon in 2013, and went into exile.

He is now based in Britain.

The interview on Khodorkovsky Live channel suggested that ‘the first year of the war was just a try out’ and that ‘everything is beginning just now’.

The Putin regime could only maintain stability ‘in the conditions of the continuation of the war’.

Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky, known as MBK, was Russia’s wealthiest man in 2003, worth an estimated $15bn.

After the collapse of the USSR, he acquired several oil fields and quickly built his wealth as an oligarch beneficiary of privatisation.

MBK challenged Russia’s governance in 2001, founding Open Russia, an organisation advocating democracy and human rights.

The businessman was arrested in 2003 on charges of fraud and tax evasion.

The US State Department made choice comments at the time about the ‘arbitrary use’ of Russia’s justice system. 

Khodorkovsky was pardoned after a decade. 

Putin (pictured) prosecuted Russia's most successful oligarch before pardoning him in 2013

Putin (pictured) prosecuted Russia’s most successful oligarch before pardoning him in 2013 

An explosion erupts from an apartment building at 110 Mytropolytska St., after a Russian army tank fired on it in Mariupol, Ukraine, Friday, March 11, 2022

An explosion erupts from an apartment building at 110 Mytropolytska St., after a Russian army tank fired on it in Mariupol, Ukraine, Friday, March 11, 2022

Oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky (L) photographed during the court hearing in 2005

Oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky (L) photographed during the court hearing in 2005