| Mikhail Khodorkovsky's arrest has split Russian politicians
into three camps. The first camp includes the Union of Right-Wing Forces
and Yabloko who have denounced the Prosecutor General's Office's actions
against the YUKOS CEO as unlawful. Those in the second camp, mostly pro-Kremlin
centrists, on the contrary, back the prosecutors. The leftists, meanwhile,
either refuse to comment on the latest developments in the YUKOS-case
altogether, or say that Khodorkovsky is suffering for his political ambitions.
On Monday morning the leader of the Union of Right-Wing Forces, Boris
Nemtsov, sent a letter to the Russian Prosecutor General's Office, in
which he vouched for YUKOS head Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
"If Mikhail Khodorkovsky is released in exchange for a promise
not to leave Moscow, he will observe all the norms of the Criminal Procedural
Code and will come to the prosecutor's office for further investigative
actions," Nemtsov quoted from his letter. "Khodorkovsky poses
no threat to people's lives or to their safety, and is not going to leave
the country," Nemtsov said.
President Vladimir Putin told business leaders and politicians on Monday
that he would not meet them to discuss the arrest of oil magnate Mikhail
Khodorkovsky as, it had been ordered by an independent court. "There
will be no meetings and no bargaining over the activities of the law enforcement
agencies as long as, of course, these agencies are acting within the framework
of the Russian law," Putin told members of the government.
Boris Nemtsov refused to comment on Vladimir Putin's refusal to interfere
in the crisis. Commenting on the YUKOS CEO's detention, he said: "I
believe that Khodorkovsky's arrest before trial is an act aimed against
the economic interests of the country."
"If the president agrees to discuss only the unlawful actions of
law enforcement agencies, there is plenty to discuss," State Duma
deputy and member of Yabloko faction Alexei
Melnikov told Gazeta.Ru. He named the following areas as examples.
"Searches in the offices of defence lawyers, of State Duma deputies,
the Prosecutor General's Office's attempts to summon a priest for questioning,
the arrival of FSB officers at a school where Khodorkovsky's daughter
studies, and their attempts to carry out some odd actions there, the use
of psychotropic substances on Pichugin in Lefortovo prison, the prosecutors'
refusal to answer deputy enquiries concerning YUKOS-related cases and
the unlawful arrest of Khodorkovsky."
The leader of the centrist People's Party, Gennady Raikov, is convinced
that "one should share with society". "The People's Party
entirely supports the actions of law enforcers in the detention of the
head of the oil company YUKOS, Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The Prosecutor General's
Office has brought serious charges against the oligarch, including, tax
evasion. We do not fear that an investigation into the affairs of one
oligarch might cast doubt on the reforms of the 1990s. All civic-oriented
political parties must come to the defence of the interests of the people,
the state, and the president from the impertinent oligarchs," holds
Raikov.
Sergei Mironov, Chairman of the Federation Council, shares Raikov's
opinion. "Law enforcement agencies have questions, and now they have
a chance to ask those questions," he said.
Communist leader Gennady Zyuganov, who has two candidates linked with
YUKOS running on his party ticket in December's parliamentary election,
said Khodorkovsky "was turned into an enemy the minute he spoke up
about his political intentions."
Zyuganov's former ally, leader of the newly established patriotic bloc
Rodina (Motherland) Sergei Glazyev, refused to comment on Khodorkovsky's
arrest. His aide told Gazeta.Ru that Glazayev "does not publicly
express his opinion on the YUKOS case or on Khodorkovsky's arrest".
He would not elaborate.
See also:
YUKOS
case
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