FRANCE 24 spoke to exiled Russian opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky, who was jailed for a decade until he was pardoned by President Vladimir Putin in 2013. Over the past few weeks, Putin and his US counterpart Donald Trump have spoke to each other and agreed to work toward ending the war in Ukraine – a huge diplomatic shift after years of tensions. Putin “has presented this in the country as his legitimisation; a breakthrough in Russia’s international isolation”, Khodorkovsky said. 

Source: https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/t%C3%AAte-%C3%A0-t%C3%AAte/20250220-putin-using-trump-ties-as-legitimisation-in-russia-exiled-opponent-khodorkovsky-says