Tag: Yukos

The Kremlin’s body of bad behavior – from election meddling to the annexation of Crimea to military involvement in Ukraine – has been widely covered in the media and, for many, news of Russia attempting to suborn Western institutions may begin to sound like background noise. But there is a systematic, often under-the-radar, attack on the rule of law and institutions underway and it is
no less alarming than the headlines. In the two chapters of this report, our esteemed authors demonstrate the attacks aimed at free societies, all intended to suborn Western
structures to the benefit of the Kremlin.

The Russian State Duma called for “preparing for the worst” regarding the policies of US President Donald Trump. Police searched the home of human rights activist Zoya Svetova in the YUKOS case.

LIVE UPDATES: Russian media reported misleadingly that businessman and former political prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovsky was “wanted internationally” by Interpol, but Interpol today flatly rejected Russia’s request. Welcome to our column, Russia Update, where we will be closely following day-to-day developments in Russia, including the Russian government’s foreign and domestic policies. The previous issue is here. […]

Samuel Johnson famously advised James Boswell and his circle to “clear your mind of cant.” This is equally sound advice for students and commentators about Russia but it is not always followed. As a result much of contemporary writing about Russia falls prey to various mythologies. One of the pervasive and most stubborn of these […]

Welcome to our column, Russia Update, where we will be closely following day-to-day developments in Russia, including the Russian government’s foreign and domestic policies. The previous issue is here. Special features: – ‘There Was No Buk in Our Field’ – With Cash and Conspiracy Theories, Russian Orthodox Philanthropist Malofeyev is Useful to the Kremlin – […]

Staunton, July 31 – Many have been transfixed by the size of the US $50 billion judgment by the international court in the Hague against Moscow in the YUKOS case, but the real threat to Russia lies not from that vast sum but rather in the principle that the international court has articulated, according to […]

Today or tomorrow, Platon Lebedev will be released [note – there are reports he was released Friday afternoon, after this article was published — Ed.]. It was decided by the Supreme Court as the result of hearings on the two “Yukos” cases. A month ago Platon Lebedev spoke about his upcoming release in an interview […]

This is the second part of the first interview that Mikhail Khodorkovsky has given since his pardon last week. In this installment, he talks about Putin’s motives for freeing him, as well as his next steps now that he is a free man. — Ed. Read part 1: Mikhail Khodorkovsky: “I Will Return to Russia” Freedom […]

This is the first part of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s first interview after his pardon. Read part two — Khodorkovsky: Putin Sent a Message That He’s Stable and Not Afraid Black polo neck shirt, jeans – a change from the prison trousers, a gray “hedgehog” [short prison haircut], glasses in thin frames, a marked stoop, and on […]

This article was originally published in Kommersant, originally titled “Mikhail Khodorkovsky Surrenders to Pardon.” It reports on what was happening behind the scenes when Mikhail Khodorkovsky made the decision to ask for a presidential pardon. The claims have not been verified, but in an official statement, Mikhail Khodorkovsky wrote, “the issue of admission of guilt […]