Khodorkovsky: 'Putin sees himself as chieftain of post-American world'

MOSCOW, July 23 (UPI) -- In an expansive interview this week with Russian weekly newspaper Sobesednik, Mikhail Khodorkovsky -- one of Russia's most famous political dissidents and one-time oligarch -- said President Vladimir Putin "sees himself as the chieftain of the post-American world."

Khodorkovsky is the former Russian CEO of the now-defunct Yukos oil and gas mega company who amassed tremendous wealth in the 1990s. He was imprisoned in 2003 for a decade on fraud charges after publicly clashing with Putin. After being pardoned by the president on the grounds that his mother was terminally ill, Khodorkovsky has since lived in exile in Switzerland.

"Russia lives in long 15-, 16-year-long eras," Khodorkovsky told the Russian newspaper, as reported by Newsweek. "Putin's era, by my estimations, will be over by the end of 2015. The end of the era, of course, does not mean his swift exit. It will manifest itself in that he will cease to be constantly forgiven."

Khodorkovsky predicted that Putin will remain in position through the 2018 Russian elections.

"It is assumed that Putin will stand in the election and win. To me it seems that the most possible scenario is a Putin victory in the 2018 elections and his departure within a year's time," said Khodorkovsky who also described Putin as "unpredictable [and] irrational."

Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, dismissed Khodorkovsky's remarks.

"I saw [it] but there was nothing to comment on in there. There is nothing which deserves attention," Peskov said.

In the mid-1990s, Khodorkovsky accumulated considerable wealth through obtaining control of a series of Siberian oil fields unified under the name Yukos, one of the major companies to emerge from the privatization of state assets during the decade. The scheme became knowns as "Loans for Shares."