Political scientist says Khodorkovsky was released from concentration camp

Scientific Director of the German-Russian Forum, Alexander Rahr, in an interview with Pravda.Ru, apologized for his remarks about the "concentration camp," from which Mikhail Khodorkovsky was released.

Alexander Rahr attended the meeting of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and former Foreign Minister of Germany Hans-Dietrich Genscher after former Yukos CEO arrived in Berlin. In this connection, the scientific director of the German-Russian Forum became one of the commentators of the event.

In an interview with RTVi, Alexander Rahr said that Mikhail Khodorkovsky received a night call from the "concentration camp director," who informed the prisoner of his imminent release. 

The remarks about the "concentration camp" caused outrage on YouTube, where many people reacted very negatively to the comment.

Pravda.Ru asked Alexander Rahr to explain what he meant.

"In an interview with RTVi you said that the camp director woke up Khodorkovsky at night. What did you mean when you said that?" 

"I made a huge mistake in what I said. I then realized that I said something silly. I honestly admit that I should have said that differently. I was giving that interview at about midnight, after a very hard day. The crew came to me about five minutes before I went to sleep. I knew those people, so I let them into my house."

"The comparison that I drew between Khodorkovsky and Solzhenitsyn is supposed to be understood in a way that I just compare his possible role here in the West, if he writes books, speak and think about the future of Russia. In this regard, I would compare him with Solzhenitsyn," Rahr said.