"Vladimir Putin constantly needs a foreign enemy to rally the country around him and divert attention from the poor Russian economy," Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whom the newspaper simply calls "the founder of" Open Russia, "writes in the Wall Street Journal, writes,. "Putin's aggression really succeeded in increasing tensions between the US and Russia. But instead of backing up Putin's version, punishing Russia as a whole, the United States should focus its response on Putin and his inner circle, "reads the article.

Khodorkovsky is sure that the enemy of the United States is not Russia or even the Russian administrative and government apparatus (most civil servants "receive a modest salary and work hard for the benefit of society," the author writes).

"The true enemy of the West - as well as the enemy of the Russian people - is a group of approximately 100 key beneficiaries of Putin's regime, as well as several thousand of their accomplices, many of whom hold posts in the FSB and the presidential administration," believes Khodorkovsky.

"These people for the most part began a career in the criminal world of St. Petersburg. Although now this group has taken control of the presidential post, it retains all the characteristics of those criminal circles from which it emerged. And these people realize that they are a gang of criminals whose goal is to steal money and avoid accountability, clinging to power, "the author writes.

Khodorkovsky is looking for vulnerabilities of this group of people: "They are extremely sensitive to publicity - to the fact that their actions will become known to everyone, as they are accustomed to hide from society. They also value money and luxury; loss of wealth and comfort for them is painful ".

"The best way to aim at Putin's entourage is to point to his specific members, along with their accomplices and politicians, whom they bribed.

Then the US and its allies will be able to take measures to isolate them from the mechanisms of the influence of illegal incomes - from people, money and corporations controlled by them in the West, "reads the article.

"Identifying the members of the group, isolating them from their foreign resources and publicly publicizing their crimes - this is the recipe for success in confrontation with one of the most dangerous mafia bands of the century," concludes Khodorkovsky.