Off to the Gulag: A Day in the Life Of a Russian Tycoon
Mikhail Khodorkovsky Eats
Porridge Twice Daily;
What Would Martha Say?
KRASNOKAMENSK, Russia -- Near a cluster of tatty gray prison barracks on the Siberian steppe, oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky got his first job since police arrested him aboard his privately chartered jet two years ago: He helped mend his penal colony's barbed-wire fences.
Mr. Khodorkovsky, once among Russia's richest men, will have a shot at other jobs in the years ahead. He may sew bed sheets, underwear and work clothes in the prison textile shop. Or scrub dormitory floors.
If anyone thought that Martha Stewart had it rough at her West Virginia confines, Russia's fallen corporate idols have it worse. Prison life has become easier since the days of the Soviet Union, when millions toiled and often died in the now-defunct gulags of the far north and east. But the new abode of Mr. Khodorkovsky, founder of the Yukos oil company, is a reminder that no Russian prison is Camp Cupcake.
Wake-up at Correctional Facility #10 is at 6 a.m. Breakfast is porridge and tea, inmates say, while lunch is porridge and water and a typical dinner is macaroni with soybeans. Temperatures drop to around minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit in winter.
"He came here to serve his sentence, not to live in a resort on the beach," says Natalya Terekhova, Mr. Khodorkovsky's local defense lawyer in Krasnokamensk, the uranium mining town next to the prison camp 3,100 miles east of Moscow. "It will not necessarily be pleasant."
Russia has a long tradition of banishing unwanted voices to Siberian outbacks. Some -- like Joseph Stalin, Vladimir Lenin and Alexander Solzhenitsyn -- later returned to prominence.
Moscow has decided to send Mr. Khodorkovsky, a vocal critic of the Kremlin who once controlled a $40 billion oil and banking empire, farther away than most. After courts confirmed his eight-year prison sentence for tax evasion and fraud in September, family members and lawyers had expected authorities to send him to a prison nearer to his family in European Russia, as required by Russian law.
But prison officials said they couldn't find any free beds nearby. They deposited Mr. Khodorkovsky in a railroad car that chugged for 10 days over the Ural Mountains and into this vast empty region of subarctic forest and plains near the Chinese border, known mainly for its large bear population.
Krasnokamensk is closer to Alaska than to Moscow, and even for nonprisoners to get there takes a six-hour flight and an eight-hour drive over bone-jarring roads. That means Mr. Khodorkovsky won't have much access to allies in the Russian capital, who have made him a pinup for Russian liberals and a possible financier to the next presidential election in 2008. Still, he promised Russians that he would manage a comeback.
"The fight is just beginning," he said in a statement issued through his lawyers after he arrived at the prison camp in October.
Nearly 200 years ago, Russian Czar Nicholas I clapped a group of aristocrats, known as Decembrists, into shackles and exiled them to this region for plotting to install a Western-style parliamentary democracy in Russia. Mr. Khodorkovsky thanked the government in his statement for sending him to the "land of Decembrists, political convicts and uranium mines." His wife, Inna Khodorkovskaya, who visited him at the penal colony last month, said in a Russian newspaper interview that the former tycoon's confinement has already caused him to re-think his political views.
Once a booster of Russian capitalism, the 42-year-old former billionaire is now calling for a "left turn" toward massive social spending, endearing him to Russia's still-numerous communist voters. Until his arrest two years ago, Mr. Khodorkovsky lived in a mansion outside Moscow and traveled in armored chauffeur-driven cars.
A pack of Moscow journalists followed Mrs. Khodorkovskaya out to see her husband soon after Russia's prison authorities announced where they had sent him. The reporters filled up the town's only hotel, located on the bottom floor of a crumbling five-story tenement.
Mrs. Khodorkovskaya took the first of four three-day conjugal visits with her husband to which she is entitled each year. The couple slept in their own room in a special building for married inmates and their wives. She prepared his favorite dish of fried potatoes on a communal stove shared with the visiting wives of other inmates. But the windows were blacked out with curtains and guards didn't let anyone outside until the three days were up. "It was a bit like a reality show," Mrs. Khodorkovskaya said in the Russian newspaper interview.
Prison guards warned journalists away from the penal colony's barbed-wire fence, and the reporters left town after a week. The mayor of Krasnokamensk, German Kolov, wished them good riddance. Most had sent back disparaging accounts of his town's ramshackle country cottages, known as dachas, and potholed roads.
One reporter brought a Geiger counter to check local accusations that heightened radiation levels were causing a spike in alcoholism, mental retardation and impotency among the male population. The readings were normal, except in wind gusts that may have picked up dust from the neighboring uranium mine.
"I'm not saying this is paradise, but it's not that bad," said Mr. Kolov, a former engineer at the uranium mine. Parrying reporters' accounts, he produced a list of vital statistics, showing that the town's birth rate was above the national average, adding that he personally had fathered two children. "Everything is fine with me in that sense," he said.
Few ordinary Russians hold a candle for Mr. Khodorkovsky, or for other so-called oligarchs who grew rich during rigged privatizations of formerly state-owned oil fields in the 1990s. Several oligarchs now live in exile outside Russia.
In hinterlands like Krasnokamensk sympathy dips further. The town and penal colony were founded in the early 1960s, when geologists discovered a huge deposit of uranium ore under the steppe -- the grassy plains that stretch across Siberia -- and prisoners were shipped out to mix cement to build the new town.
But Krasnokamensk -- which means "red rock" in Russian, after the huge quantities of red granite that were dug out of the uranium mine -- gained little from the collapse of communist rule in Russia. The mine remained in state hands and about a third of the town's 60,000 residents still work there.
"I think they sent him here partly because they know people don't like oligarchs here," said Father Sergei Taratukhin, the Russia Orthodox priest who gives weekly church services in the penal colony, of Mr. Khodorkovsky. "I am convinced he is a political prisoner." Prosecutors have threatened to indict Mr. Khodorkovsky on further charges, which could extend his stay beyond his current eight-year sentence.
Mr. Khodorkovsky appears to be getting a warm initial reception inside the prison, though. Already inmates have nicknamed him "Borisovich," the informal but respectful form of his name. When Mrs. Khodorkovskaya visited last month, the inmates presented her husband with a bag of chocolates so he would have a gift for her, according to Ms. Terekhova, his local lawyer.
Mr. Khodorkovsky's personal fortune, once an estimated $18 billion, remains considerable even as the Kremlin dismantles his former business empire. "Of course he'll make plenty of friends," said Maksim Khlebkov, who finished a prison sentence at the camp for petty theft two months ago. "He's an accomplished man."
俄罗斯石油巨头狱中生活一瞥
在西伯利亚大平原上一片破旧不堪的灰色牢房附近，两年前在自己的私人飞机上被捕的哈伊尔?霍多尔科夫斯基(Mikhail Khodorkovsky)有了狱中的第一份工作：帮助修补监狱的铁丝网护栏。
霍多尔科夫斯基曾是俄罗斯首富之一，现在摆在他面前的却是另一条职业道路，他可能在监狱的裁缝店里缝床单、内裤和工作服，或是擦洗牢房地板。
如果有人以为玛莎?斯图尔特(Martha Stewart)在西佛吉尼亚的牢房中度日如年的话，那霍多尔科夫斯基这位俄罗斯企业界的堕落天使的境遇更有过之而无不及。苏联时期，数百万囚犯在东北部的集中营接受劳改，经常死亡；现在集中营已被取消，囚狱生活也有所改善。不过，尤科斯石油公司(Yukos)创始人霍多尔科夫斯基的狱中经历表明，俄罗斯监狱不可能像美国的“蛋塔监狱”(Camp Cupcake，译注：美国第一家女子监狱，没有铁丝网，囚犯每日劳动后能进行排球、垒球和网球等娱乐活动。)那样和气慈善。
据与霍多尔科夫斯基同住的囚犯称，10号劳改监狱的生活从早上6点起床开始，早饭是麦片粥和茶，中饭是麦片粥和水，晚饭一般是通心粉和大豆。冬天的最低温度在华氏零下40度左右（约等于摄氏零下40度）。
“他是来服刑的，不是在沙滩上度假，”霍多尔科夫斯基的当地辩护律师纳塔莉娅?特莱克娃(Natalya Terekhova)说道，她在距监狱不远的克拉斯诺伏斯克(Krasnokamensk，)工作，那是一个莫斯科以东3,100英里的铀矿小镇。“监狱生活不太可能是愉快的。”
俄罗斯有个长久的传统，就是将不受欢迎的人流放西伯利亚。其中一些人－－如斯大林(Joseph Stalin)、列宁(Vladimir Lenin)和索忍尼辛(Alexander Solzhenitsyn，译注：俄国作家及小说家，诺贝尔奖得主)－－后来又再度崛起。
霍多尔科夫斯基曾控制著价值400亿美元的石油和银行帝国，并公开批评俄罗斯政府，因此政府决定将他发配得越远越好。2005年9月法庭以商业诈骗和偷漏税款罪判处霍多尔科夫斯基有期徒刑8年，他的家人和律师原以为当局会让他在俄罗斯欧洲区(European Russia)的监狱服刑，因为那里离他家近，这是由俄罗斯法律规定的。
然而监狱方面说他们无法就近找到空床位。他们把霍多尔科夫斯基送上火车，一路颠簸10天，越过乌拉尔山脉，进入靠近中国边境的西伯利亚，那里是一片广袤的亚北极区森林和平原，以熊的数量众多而闻名。
克拉斯诺伏斯克离美国阿拉斯加州的距离比离莫斯科更近，即使一般人去那里，都要经受6小时的飞行和8小时的汽车颠簸。这意味著霍多尔科夫斯基很难和莫斯科的盟友联系，那些盟友让他在俄罗斯自由主义分子中树立威望，并可能让他做2008年下届总统选举的融资人。不过，霍多尔科夫斯基公开向俄罗斯民众表示，他还会卷土重来的。
“战斗才刚刚打响，”2005年10月霍多尔科夫斯基到达监狱后，在通过律师发表的声明中说。
近200年前，俄罗斯沙皇尼古拉斯一世(Russian Czar Nicholas I)将一群反对自己的贵族（历史上称为十二月党人）戴上镣铐，放逐到西伯利亚，罪名是在俄罗斯阴谋建立西方议会民主制度。霍多尔科夫斯基在声明中感谢俄罗斯政府将他发配到“十二月党人的领地、政治犯的故乡，以及铀矿所在地”。他的妻子茵娜?霍多尔科夫斯基(Inna Khodorkovskaya)10月份前往监狱探望，并在接受俄罗斯一家报纸的采访中表示，这位俄罗斯前企业大亨已经因囚禁事件而重新考虑其政治主张。
这位42岁的曾鼓吹俄罗斯资本主义的前亿万富翁现在正号召“向左转” ，要求政府对社会公共事业作大规模的资金投入，以此来博取俄罗斯仍为数众多的亲共选民的支持。而在2003年被捕之前，霍多尔科夫斯基住在莫斯科郊外的豪宅之中，出行都坐在配备专职司机的防弹车里。
在俄罗斯监狱当局宣布囚禁霍多尔科夫斯基的地点后不久，霍多尔科夫斯基太太前去探望，一群莫斯科记者紧紧跟随。在一栋破旧五层楼的地下室里，坐落著小镇唯一一家旅馆，那里挤满了跟风而至的记者。
霍多尔科夫斯基太太每年有四次探望丈夫的权利，每次为期三天。夫妇俩在监狱专供夫妻探望的单间里同枕而眠，她在公共厨房为丈夫烹制了他最爱吃的炸土豆；但在这三天内，窗户都被窗廉遮得严严实实，狱警也不让任何人走出探望区。“期间的生活有点像真人秀，”霍多尔科夫斯基太太在接受报纸采访中说道。
狱警警告记者远离监狱的铁丝网护栏，一个星期后，记者纷纷离开小镇。克拉斯诺伏斯克的镇长奇尔曼?科洛夫(German Kolov)如释重负。大多数记者都评论小镇中所谓的乡村别墅摇摇欲坠，道路崎岖不平。
有个记者带来一个辐射线侦测器，来检测是否真如当地人抱怨的那样，高辐射导致男性人口中酗酒者、智障者和性无能者人数激增。仪表读数基本正常，除了在刮风的天气，因为大风有可能把邻近铀矿的尘土吹到小镇来。
“这里虽不是天堂，但也不至于那么差，”以前在铀矿做过工程师的科洛夫说道。他避而不谈记者提及的几种不良趋势，而是列举了一些出生数据，显示该镇的出生率高于美国平均水平，并说他已是两个孩子的父亲。“我自己一点也没感觉到有何异常，”他说道。
很少有俄罗斯民众支持霍多尔科夫斯基这种在90年代国有油田私有化中靠营私舞弊发家致富的寡头政客。其中几个寡头政客现在都在俄罗斯境外流亡。
在克拉斯诺伏斯克这样的穷乡僻壤，人们对霍多尔科夫斯基更缺乏同情。这个小镇和监狱建于20世纪60年代，当时地质学家在横跨西伯利亚的大草原地带发现大量铀矿，于是囚犯被运往这里，建立起一个新的城镇。
克拉斯诺伏斯克在俄罗斯语中是“红石”的意思，这是因为在开挖铀矿时掘起大量红色的花岗岩。这个小镇在苏联政权倒台时没得到什么好处，铀矿仍由政府控制，小镇60,000人口中的三分之一仍在矿上工作。
“我认为政府把霍多尔科夫斯基送来是因为这里的人不喜欢寡头政客，”俄罗斯东正教的神父塞格?塔拉图金(Sergei Taratukhin)说道，他每个星期给这里的囚犯作弥撒。“我相信他是个政治犯。”政府执法者已威胁说要以其他罪名进一步控告霍多尔科夫斯基，从而有可能使其刑期超过目前的8年。
不过霍多尔科夫斯基似乎在狱中人缘不错，牢房的舍友已给他取了个绰号叫“波利斯维奇”，一种对他名字的昵称。10月份霍多尔科夫斯基太太来探望时，舍友给霍多尔科夫斯基一包巧克力，好让他有礼物送给太太，辩护律师特莱克娃说道。
霍多尔科夫斯基个人财富曾高达180亿美元，虽然俄罗斯政府分拆了其商业帝国，但余下的财富仍非常可观。“他当然会有很多朋友，”两个月前在监狱服刑期满的马克沁?克勒伯科夫(Maksim Khlebkov)说，“他毕竟是个成功人士。”
