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Open Russia is a name shared by two initiatives advocating democracy in Russia founded by former businessman and democracy activist Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The first initiative took the form of a foundation whose stated purpose was to build and strengthen civil society in Russia. It was established in 2001 by Khodorkovsky in concert with the shareholders of his firm, Yukos.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work =Khodorkovsky )〕 It was closed in 2006. Khodorkovsky relaunched Open Russia in September 2014 as a project that intended to serve as a “nationwide community platform”. ==First founding== This first incarnation of Open Russia has been described by ''The Guardian'' as a charitable organization.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work =The Guardian )〕 Its board included Henry Kissinger and Lord Jacob Rothschild. According to the ''Moscow Times'', the earlier incarnation of Open Russia funded “many philanthropic projects, including educational projects for young people, the Federation of Internet Education, the Club of Regional Journalism and projects of human rights NGOs.” (詳細はLeonid Nevzlin took over Open Russia. He was succeeded by Nikolay Bychkov.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work =Kommersant )〕 As of 2005, Open Russia had 23 regional affiliates. On February 24, 2005, Russia’s Federal Tax Service initiated an inspection of Open Russia, its third such probe in 12 months. A spokesmen for the organization said that “the authorities are endeavoring to sully the only structure left in the hands of Mikhail Khodorkovsky.”〔 The first incarnation of Open Russia closed in 2006 when Russian authorities froze its bank accounts. ==Relaunch== Open Russia was re-launched on September 20, 2014, as “a nationwide community platform designed to bring together all Russians interested in creating a better life for themselves and their children.”〔 The relaunch was announced at an “opening videoconference that linked civil society activists in ten cities across Russia—from Kaliningrad to Tomsk.” The opening conference, noted the ''World Affairs Journal'' (WAJ), was “greeted with the typical official response,” with nearly all of the regional locations experiencing Internet connection problems just moments before the conference. In Moscow, stated WAJ, “conference participants were confronted by 'journalists' from the notorious NTV channel, which specializes in slandering civil society and opposition activists.” While in Yaroslavl, “someone sabotaged the door lock the night before the conference, leaving activists unable to enter, and the technical equipment blocked inside.” Similarly, supporters of President Vladimir Putin in Nizhny Novgorod “stormed the hall where conference participants were assembled.”〔 “Russia has been closed for too long”, said Khodorkovsky at the opening conference. Open Russia, he said, “is about opening ourselves to new ways of thinking, to new and better ways of living. Open Russia will work to help communities all across the country to organize themselves into civic and activist groups that steadily and purposefully amass experience in joint action to assert their interests.” He maintained that the “old way of politics, where you slowly build an opposition political party, is no longer possible, and no longer effective. Only in this new, open and modern way is change for the better possible.”〔 He has called on Russians to contemplate their country's post-Putin future. He also emphasized that the new version of Open Russia was not a political party but an online “platform”.〔 The online relaunch ceremony was attended by prominent Russian activists and emigrés, including Sergei Guriyev and Yevgeny Chichvarkin.〔 ''The Guardian'' reported that Khodorkovky’s relaunch of Open Russia “appears to break his promise to steer clear of politics, which he made after being pardoned by president Vladimir Putin in December.”〔 ''The New York Times'' stated, however, that Khodorkovsky had in fact “agreed to stay out of politics until August, when he would have been released anyway. Now freed from that commitment, he is making clear that prison has, if anything, emboldened him in his desire to change his country.” Khodorkovsky told an American audience that Russia had “been wasting time” during Putin's rule of the nation at an October 2014 dinner sponsored by Freedom House. He continued stating “now is when we must begin to make up this lost time.”〔 ==Objectives== Open Russia was “intended to unite pro-European Russians in a bid to challenge Putin’s grip on power,” according to ''The Guardian''. Khodorkovsky said at the launch ceremony that he and his Open Russia colleagues “support what they call the European choice or a state governed by the rule of law”. He rejected the claim that “Russia is not Europe”, calling this “a lie that is being imposed on society on purpose” by “those who want to rule the country for life, those who want to spit upon law and justice.” Russia, he insisted, is “Europe, both in terms of geography and culture.”〔 Khodorkovsky said that “about 12% of Russians today support the idea of a European-style government, but support in Moscow is probably around 30%.” He stated that these people could have a significant impact, since “Russian politics is made in big cities.” It is such individuals whom he seeks to bring together through Open Russia. He also said that he hoped to convince more Russians to support the idea of a Europe-oriented Russia.〔 Interviewed in an October 2014 article in the ''Wall Street Journal'', Khodorkovsky said he planned to use Open Russia to push for a constitutional conference that would shift power away from the presidency and toward the legislature and judiciary. “The question of Russian power won’t be decided by democratic elections—forget about this”, Khodorkovsky said.〔 Putin, he told the Council on Foreign Relations in the same month, was not Russia's main problem but was “merely a symbol of the problem”, the problem actually being “the lack of a law-based state” founded on “a constitution that has made it impossible to have a balance of powers.” A new constitutional assembly, he emphasized, would enable the country to “transition from a totalitarian figure of a president to a system of separation of powers.”〔(【引用サイトリンク】 work =Center on Foreign Relations )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Open Russia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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