Based on my personal and professional experience as a former investment banker and a witness in a trial in Washington, D.C. against the Russian Federation I am certain that Russian president Putin and Russian tycoon Khodorkovsky are close political and business partners and not opponents. Equally I am certain that Vladislav Surkov (an influential political figure in Russia and a member of president’s Administration since 1999) has been a close adviser of Khodorkovsky who was chosen to act as a “liaison officer” between Khodorkovsky and Putin. By the way, Mr. Surkov served in Russian intelligence before acting as a bodyguard of Khodorkovsky and was a member of Mr. Khodorkovsky’s close circle before joining Administration in 1999. Based on a mentality of a former KGB’s agent, what a prominent Russian politician should have done to make sure that no one in Russia may even dare to oppose him and his political regime ? He should have chosen a most influential politically and the most powerful business tycoon and should have ruined him and his business empire. Surely, it might be much better if that business tycoon and his close partners would have been an integral part of this plot and would knowingly play their roles into Putin's hand. Surely, Khodorkovsky has lost nothing financially as a result of seemingly aggressive and illegal campaign against his business empire. I refer not only to insider-trading here. By the way, British lawyer Stephen Curtis who established a world-wide empire of off-shore accounts of Mr. Khodorkovsky and who died mysteriously in March of 2004 was not killed by the Russians. I am certain that he was assassinated. His death was not the result of a sad and unexpected accident. I think that the fact he was a partner in a security firm ISC Global (that was financed by Menatep, Khodorkovsky and Boris Berezovsky) might help to find those who had assassinated Curtis. If the Russians were really against Khodorkovsky and Menatep they would have surely induced Stephen Curtis “to speak” and surely would have “induced” him to stay alive (probably somewhere in Russia), would'n they ? The main intrigue here, in my view, is who in fact initiated the plot that was envisaged to deceive the public, both Russian and international ? I am wondering if that was Putin or Khodorkovsky himself who had envisaged the scheme. Surely, Mr. Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev, his close partner and another “victim” participated in court hearings in Russia (as culprits) to face the public and cameras. But I am certain that both tycoons had never spent a single day personally in prison. Surely, that was not a problem for their security and Russian intelligence to find an appropriate double well in advance of the events. I am a former investment banker and a former witness in a litigation in the USA in favour of petitioners (a group of US citizens, minority shareholders of Russian oil company YUKOS). That petition was submitted in October, 2005 in Washington, D.C. against the Russian Federation, Russian state-controlled energy monopolies Gazprom and Rosneft, and two former top-level government officials Mr. Sechin and Mr. Kudrin (Allen, et al. v. Russian Federation, et al., Civil No. 05-2077, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, action for expropriation of YUKOS Oil Company). I have never been employed by YUKOS or Menatep. I am a former Head of Fixed Income and Equity trading at Gazprombank (second largest bank in Russia that at that time was almost fully controlled by state-run gas giant Gazprom). I contacted myself law firm that represented the petitioners and had (and still has) headquarters in Washington, D.C. and provided their clients with documents, explanations and my witness statements FREE OF CHARGE with the information “from the inside of the gang of criminals” that supported the petition of US-based investors. My name and my allegations were included in the text of the amended petition that was submitted in Washington, D.C. in July, 2006 and was made public in mass media and internet.
Based on my personal and professional experience as a former investment banker and a witness in a trial in Washington, D.C. against the Russian Federation I am certain that Russian president Putin and Russian tycoon Khodorkovsky are close political and business partners and not opponents. Khodorkovsky spent about 10 years in prison in what Amnesty International says was political imprisonment and Putin put him there. I smell Putin in the OP
