Mikhail Khodorkovsky chocolate bars and coarse brown mittens that he could have knitted in prison were delivered to 1,000 celebrities and journalists around the country Wednesday by an painter who said she wanted to highlight his plight.
Yekaterina Belyavskaya, the 29-year-old Moscow artist behind the initiative, said she did not want people to forget the former Yukos billionaire and had included him on her mailing list.
“This is a purely artistic project without any political meaning. We just wanted to remind people about his fate,” Belyavskaya told The Moscow Times.
Belyavskaya said she had decided to send the Khodorkovsky memorabilia to “friendly people,” including novelist Georgy Chkhartishvili, film director Sergei Solovyov and Federation Council Speaker Sergei Mironov.
Chkhartishvili, better known by his pen name Boris Akunin, has interviewed Khodorkovsky for the Russian edition of Esquire magazine, while Solovyov was among dozens of intellectuals who signed a letter to President Dmitry Medvedev to free former Yukos employee Svetlana Bakhmina from prison.
Khodorkovsky spokesman Maxim Dbar said the tycoon's defense team was not involved in the project. Still, he gave his blessing to it. “We support any means of bringing attention to the case,” he said.
Belyavskaya's artwork arrived in brown envelopes emblazoned with an Andy Warhol-style painting of Khodorkovsky.
“This is a unique gift set that contains a super glove from Khodorkovsky and the world's first chocolate with a taste of politics,” says a letter accompanying the packages.
The chocolate bar's wrapping, which features a picture of Khodorkovsky, describes its contents as “very bitter chocolate."
The plain mitten has a designer label bearing Khodorkovsky's signature.
Khodorkovsky worked in a Chita prison sewing shop after being sentenced in 2005 to eight years on fraud and tax evasion charges that he calls politically motivated. He and his former partner, Platon Lebedev, are now being tried on embezzlement and money-laundering charges at a second trial in Moscow.
Belyavskaya's letter is prepared to look like a ransom note, with words cut out of newspapers and pasted to a piece of paper, and it contains drawings of Khodorkovsky and Lebedev.
“We are not asking you to change your view toward those people. We just want you to remember them,” the letter says.
Belyavskaya said she became interested in the Khodorkovsky case after participating in a competition to draw the second trial last year. The contest, arranged by Khodorkovsky's supporters, was an attempt to cheer him up, and the best drawings were hung in Moscow’s Central House of Artists.
Belyavskaya is not the only artist who has found inspiration in Khodorkovsky. Rock musician Sergei Shnurov dedicated a cover version of his popular rock ballad “I Am Free” to the businessman, while novelist Lyudmilia Ulitskaya wrote a book of prison correspondence with Khodorkovsky last year.
Belyavskaya said she also planned to send a package to President Dmitry Medvedev. “I want to raise his spirits, but I doubt that he would accept it,” she said.
She added that she had decided against contacting Prime Minister Vladimir Putin in order not to “upset” him. Putin bluntly called Khodorkovsky a criminal in a televised call-in show in December.
A Message from The Moscow Times:
Dear readers,
We are facing unprecedented challenges. Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization, criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution. This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent."
These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia. The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate, unbiased reporting on Russia.
We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help.
Your support, no matter how small, makes a world of difference. If you can, please support us monthly starting from just $2. It's quick to set up, and every contribution makes a significant impact.
By supporting The Moscow Times, you're defending open, independent journalism in the face of repression. Thank you for standing with us.
Remind me later.