Poll shows 34% of Russians approve of Khodorkovsky's arrest

The results of a poll, conducted by the ROMIR research organization in October 2003, showed that 34 percent of Russians approved of the arrest of YUKOS Executive Board Chairman Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Answering the question of their attitude to this arrest, 34 percent of the respondents said their attitude was positive, the attitude of 20 percent of the respondents was "rather positive." The answers "rather negative" and "negative" were given by 9 percent and 4 percent of the respondents respectively. The attitude of 29 percent of the respondents to this arrest was indifferent, and 4 percent were undecided.

As for the question of the reason for the arrest, 28 percent of the respondents mentioned "personal violations of law by Khodorkovsky" and 24 percent mentioned "violations of law by the company." 11 percent remarked on Khodorkovsky's political activity, and 9 percent of the respondents thought the arrest was a result of a campaign against "oligarchs."

Fifty percent of the respondents believe that Khodorkovsky's arrest will have no effect on the Russian economy, 21 percent expect this arrest to have negative economic consequences, 20 percent expect positive economic consequences, and 9 percent of the respondents were undecided.