Russian prosecutors have demanded an investigation into exiled former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky for allegedly making extremist comments.
Speaking to journalists in Moscow on December 9 via a video link from London, Khodorkovsky said a new Russian revolution was "inevitable and necessary," and he predicted that President Vladimir Putin’s government would be out of power within a few years.
"Khodorkovsky called for the carrying out of a revolution as the only and necessary way to change the regime," Russia's Prosecutor-General's Office said on December 10. "These actions by Khodorkovsky appear extremist and demand legal checks."
Once Russia's richest man, Khodorkovsky was arrested in 2003 and convicted of financial crimes in trials supporters said were engineered to punish him for challenging Putin and place the assets of his oil company, Yukos, in the hands of the state. He was pardoned by Putin in 2013.