Once Russia's richest man, Khodorkovsky promised to stay out of politics after he was released from prison late last year following a decade behind bars. But his public attempt to bring together opposition-minded Russians appears to betray his political ambitions.
"A minority will be influential if it is organised," he said during a ceremony broadcast online from Paris as he unveiled his new "Open Russia" movement.
Khodorkovsky stressed that the project -- named after his eponymous charity that was shut down after his imprisonment -- would be an online "platform" for like-minded people, not a political party.
"I expect him to be upset," Khodorkovsky said, referring to his nemesis Putin.
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Russian activists and prominent emigres including Paris-based economist Sergei Guriyev and London-based businessman Yevgeny Chichvarkin -- both of whom fled the country under pressure from security services -- joined the three-hour online ceremony.
Khodorkovsky's allies said that even though Putin's grip on power was firm, his rule would one day end. They insisted the time had come to think of Russia's future after Putin.
Khodorkovsky, who lives in Switzerland with his family, openly supported a Ukrainian uprising that ousted a Moscow-backed president in February, but indicated he did not want a bloody revolt for Russia.