Living in an age of no faith

28 October 2003

That is not reassuring for the rattled elite. If capital flight accelerates, Putin won’t hit his target of doubling the size of the economy. Vladimir Putin has said he will not compromise over Khodorkovsky’s arrest, but also won’t expand the action to other oligarchs.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin distanced himself on Monday from the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, saying it was a matter for the courts. The oligarch was snatched at gunpoint over the weekend from a plane in Siberia and whisked off to a Moscow jail, charged with tax evasion and fraud.

Executive authorities cannot order a man incarcerated even during a preliminary investigation, nor can prosecutors. That can de done only by a court, he said. If, in this instance, this is what has been done, my supposition is that the court had grounds to do so.

Some fear that the legal action against Russia's richest man, and head of oil major Yukos, could set a precedent for reviewing Russia's chaotic loans for shares privatisations.

It is vital to stress here that in connection with this case, we should make no generalisations, we should not assume that any precedents will be set, particularly with regard to the outcome of privatisation, Putin said. I would therefore ask that all speculation and hysteria be stopped.

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