[GarySpFc]

Mr. Half Truth, you put out your nonsense without telling how Khodorkovsky stole Yukos in the first place, and then failed to pay taxes in the second place.
Khodorkovsky was a banker, and rigged the bidding process when his company offered $200K for Yukos. Then he set up a dummy company which tendered an offer of $1 billion dollars to keep any competition out of the bidding. Once the bidding was over the dummy company folded leaving Yukos being sold to Khodorkovsky for a mere $200K. But that is not the end of the story he never paid the $200K nor did he pay the taxes for Yukos. Now in the press the oligarchs blame Putin for Khodorkovsky's crimes.

[Lukasz]

I'm curious how you explain this?

Yukos, just like other oil companies, used legal tax mechanism to reduce the taxes. Out of 24 per cent of the binding income tax, Yukos paid around 12-15 per cent. It should be added that e.g. Sibneft concern (Controlled by Kremlin’s loyal businessman Roman Abramovich) pays around 5 per cent of the income tax, and the aluminum concern RusAl around 3 per cent (out of 24). Both companies are loyal to the Kremlin; the Tax Office and the prosecution authorities have not applied any sanctions against them.

Source: Center for Eastern Studies, Warsaw, Poland
Putin after re-election

[Michael81Dus]

Chodorkowski didn´t get a fair trial, that´s the top of the pseudo-democracy in Russia. Free press? In Russia? Never heard of it. Putin is governing like a Czar. Just look on Chechnya, where 8-10 times more people died than in Iraq (and don´t forget the different size of both countries).