Events

How to slay a dragon: building a new Russia after Putin

Hosted by the European Institute

In-person and online public event (Sheikh Zayed Theatre, Cheng Kin Ku Building)

Speaker

Mikhail Khodorkovsky

Mikhail Khodorkovsky

Chair

Professor Kevin Featherstone

Professor Kevin Featherstone

Join us for this event with Mikhail Khodorkovsky who will be speaking about his new book, How To Slay a Dragon: building a new Russia after Putin.

The book is Khodorkovsky's account of what is happening in Russia today and what could happen in the future. Putin will not last forever: sooner or later, there will be a post-Putin era. But Russia's history has been deeply shaped by an autocratic trap: a revolution against an autocracy has produced another autocracy, followed by another revolution and another autocracy, and so on. If Russia is to find its place as a constructive partner in a global community of civilised nations, then it has to escape this vicious cycle. His book is Khodorkovsky's account of his own journey and of how the vicious cycle of Russian history can be broken. He charts a pathway towards a parliamentary federal republic which would enable Russia to become a free and democratic society, living in peace and without dragons.

Meet our speaker and chair

Mikhail Khodorkovsky was the head of YUKOS Oil Company, and he established the Open Russia Foundation in 2001 with the aim of building and strengthening civil society in Russia. In 2003, Khodorkovsky criticised endemic corruption in a televised meeting with President Putin. He was later arrested and jailed on charges of tax evasion and fraud. Khodorkovsky was sentenced to 14 years in prison and was declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International. He was released in 2013.

Kevin Featherstone is a professorial research fellow and Director of the Hellenic Observatory at the European Institute at LSE.

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