The oil and gas industry now and then suffers the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. In Russia, that outrageous fortune has taken the shape of the country’s political leaders—including its president and prime minister.
What else can one think when the trial of former Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky and his colleague Platon Lebedev is described as “a politically motivated case of selective arrest and prosecution that serves as a test of the rule of law and independence of the judicial system of Russia.”
Those are the words of US Sens. Roger F. Wicker (R-Miss.) and Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.) in a resolution they introduced on June 18 that was then referred to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The two senators had an impressive stack of evidence to back up their claims, but even more evidence has been mounting in support of their view that the case was politically motivated.
Putin speaks
Former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov has disclosed details of a private conversation he claims to have had with Russia’s then-President Vladimir Putin, revealing political motives behind the state’s hounding of Khodorkovsky.
Kasyanov has filed an affidavit in the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), including Putin’s alleged explanation for the persecution of Khodorkovsky and his Yukos oil company: that Khodorkovsky was financing the Communist party without his agreement.
More precisely, Putin said Khodorkovsky had “crossed a line” by financing the communists without his permission while also financing two other political parties in accord with orders from the Kremlin.
Kasyanov’s statement could add weight to Khodorkovsky’s appeal against the Russian government in the ECHR, which claims that his arrest in 2003 was politically motivated—a claim Moscow denies.
“We are preparing for the hearings, scheduled for the fall,” said Russia’s Justice Minister Alexander Konovalov.
Potential embarrassment
Meanwhile, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, perhaps desirous of heading off potential embarrassment for Putin this fall, said the issue of pardoning Khodorkovsky can only be dealt with in the context of the general procedures, applied in Russia.
“Pardoning Khodorkovsky, or any other person is a procedure that complies with the rules current in this country,” said Medvedev, adding, “The person in question must apply to the president, plead guilty, and request the corresponding approval.”
To obtain a pardon, of course, Khodorkovsky would have to drop his case in the ECHR—along with all of his claims about the political motivation behind the case against him.
Medvedev claims to see no politics in the case at all. “You know, I don’t take this the way many analysts probably do,” he said. “I look at this from the angle of law. And there can’t be any other approach for the president.”
In his view: “Khodorkovsky and some businessmen here in Russia have been convicted in court. It is not a political campaign.”
