As many readers are well aware, today Mikhail Khodorkovsky delivered his final comments at the last sessions of his second show trial, marking the very last words we will likely hear from him for quite some time.  The verdict, a foregone conclusion to many, will come on Dec. 15.  The impassioned speech carries the weight of a historical moment for modern Russia.  Khodorkovsky did not just speak on his own behalf in these comments, but also on behalf of his generation.  This text should be read and considered most carefully by those who have sustained an endorsed an artificial reality of Putin’s Russia, and those who have mistaken false promises for hope.

Versions of these comments are being carried as opinion articles in a number of newspapers, including the New York Times.  Below is the full transcript:

I can recall October 2003. My last day as a free man. Several weeks after my arrest, I was informed that president Putin had decided: I was going to have to “slurp gruel” for 8 years. It was hard to believe that back then.

Seven years have gone by already since that day. Seven years – quite a long stretch of time, and all the more so – when you’ve spent it in jail. All of us have had time to reassess and rethink many things.