MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Tuesday it had opened a criminal case against exiled Kremlin critic Mikhail Khodorkovsky, accusing him of creating a “terrorist organisation” and of plotting to violently seize power.
Khodorkovsky, an oil tycoon who was once Russia’s richest man, served 10 years in a Siberian prison on fraud charges that he and many Western countries said were politically motivated.
The FSB said the charges relate to the activities of a Khodorkovsky-backed group that opposes the war in Ukraine. The group, called the Anti-War Committee, has been banned in Russia.
There was no immediate comment from Khodorkovsky or his representatives.
Khodorkovsky rose to prominence as one of a handful of wealthy businessmen who backed Russia’s former president Boris Yeltsin in the 1990s, gaining huge power over the Russian economy as a result.
He fell from grace as Yeltsin’s successor Vladimir Putin tightened the Kremlin’s grip on previously independent-minded business figures.
He was pardoned in 2013 and left Russia. He has since backed a series of groups opposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Khodorkovsky has since 2022 positioned himself as a leading figure among Russian exiles who back Kyiv against Moscow in the Ukraine war. Shortly after the war’s outbreak, he was designated a “foreign agent” by Russia.
(Reporting by Reuters, Writing by Felix Light, Editing by Mark Trevelyan)
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