By Mark Trevelyan
LONDON (Reuters) -When members of Europe's leading human rights forum voted this month to create a "platform for dialogue" with exiled opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin, the move went largely unreported by the world's media.
But Russia's FSB security service was paying close attention to the resolution by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
On Tuesday, without waiting for PACE to select and name its Russian partners, the FSB cited the initiative as part of its justification for opening a new criminal investigation into 23 dissidents based outside the country, whom it accused of forming a "terrorist organisation" and plotting to seize power.
Former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky was named as the ringleader of the alleged plot. He had said he would like to participate in the PACE forum.
WHAT ARE THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE INVESTIGATION?
The FSB's move sounded a warning to the opposition but also served as an unintended publicity boost for the Council of Europe initiative, which offers a chance for exiled dissident factions to show whether they can bury past differences and work together effectively.
The announcement showed that, despite publicly dismissing exiled critics as irrelevant, the Russian authorities are closely tracking their activities and will contest any Western move to confer official recognition on them.
Khodorkovsky said in an interview that Putin was worried about the possible emergence of a coordinated opposition that could one day replace him.
"The main danger for the Kremlin and Putin personally is precisely this: that in the event of a power transition, this group now becomes one of the points of alternative legitimacy to the Kremlin," he told Reuters.
By building relations with international organisations such as PACE, the opposition had "provoked a fit of utterly rabid hatred in Vladimir Putin", said Khodorkovsky, who denied all the accusations against him and the others under investigation.
Asked by Reuters if Russia was really worried that Khodorkovsky and others could use the new platform as a means to seize power, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "There are enemies of the country within the country, and there are enemies of the country abroad. They engage in hostile activity, and our special agencies take the necessary measures - those they deem appropriate."
The FSB probe targets the entire membership of the Antiwar Committee, a group formed in 2022 to oppose Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, as well as other unnamed individuals.
"They're doing it to make the group toxic. The government is simply trying to make any contact with them as dangerous as possible for people," human rights lawyer Evgeny Smirnov told the Meduza news outlet.
EXILED OPPOSITION IS SPLIT BETWEEN RIVAL CAMPS
In a vote on October 1, members of PACE - which brings together parliamentarians from 46 European countries - resolved to open a new political dialogue with selected Russian exiles who must, among other criteria, "have a record of publicly opposing Putin’s regime and work towards regime change".
PACE has yet to choose the participants - an exercise that could be politically fraught because of very public disagreements between Khodorkovsky and the Anti-Corruption Fund of late opposition leader Alexei Navalny, known by its Russian initials FBK.
Khodorkovsky said perceptions by people in the West that the opposition was mired in constant squabbling were outdated and wrong.
He said he and his supporters saw the FBK as an ally against Putin, even though they viewed it as "rather authoritarian", and would welcome its participation in the PACE initiative.
Leonid Volkov, political director of the FBK, told Reuters that it was too early to say if the organisation would join in.
"When they decide about the composition of this platform and if they invite us, we will definitely consider and discuss it," he said in a written reply to questions.
He emphatically denied that the FBK was provoking conflict within the opposition, and repeated an allegation first made last year that an ally of Khodorkovsky had ordered brutal physical attacks against FBK activists - something the Khodorkovsky camp has denied.
HOPES OF RETURNING TO RUSSIA
Khodorkovsky, once Russia's richest man, fell foul of Putin in the early 2000s and spent 10 years in prison on fraud charges that human rights groups and Western governments said were politically motivated. He is now based in London.
At 62, he said he still hopes to return to Russia one day. But many believe his chances of playing a political role are remote, as he and other "oligarchs" who acquired vast wealth in the 1990s were widely resented by ordinary Russians who experienced widespread hardship after the Soviet collapse.
Ekaterina Shulman, a respected political scientist who is also among those under investigation for the alleged plot, said the naming of Khodorkovsky as the ringleader had more to do with the FSB's mindset than with reality.
"The FSB thinks in simple terms. They need a leader everywhere... In their magical world, everything has a sponsor," she told radio station Ekho Moskvy.
"The picture is clear: here's a fugitive oligarch, let's get him."
(Additional reporting by Gleb Stolyarov; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
