Russian Oil Tycoon Detained

Has Khodorkovsky pushed the situation to the detention purposefully?
Today, the authority disregards the previous merits and the influence of some outstanding people. As far as the authority has an objective, it pursues it. The other day, the RF Prosecutor's Office organized searches in organizations that seemed to be having no connection with Yukos, but today FSB storm-troops detained Yukos head Mikhail Khodorkovsky.

Mikhail Kodorkovsky has already declared in public several times that he was ready for the arrest if there were plans to detain him. He believed that he was forced to emigrate which would have immediately proved his guilt. Indeed, if he left the country everybody would think he was guilty and understood the guilt. The oil tycoon has attempted to attach political importance to the scandal, while he understands perfectly well that even despite of Yukos's transparency, the Prosecutor's Office can institute dozens of criminal cases concerning violations of different kinds. Some time ago, the laws have not had any importance, but they do have now. If the oil company has had many violations during the previous period, it is impossible to cover the faults in an instant.

Right after the detention Mikhail Khodorkovsky was taken to the committee of inquiry of the RF Prosecutor's Office in Moscow. Investigators made attempts to start interrogation immediately, before attorney of the detained arrived, but Mikhail Khodorkovsky did not agree to testify. Attorney of the Yukos head, Anton Drel was informed of the detention and immediately arrived to the Prosecutor's Office. Last week, the attorney received a writ demanding that he must come to the Prosecutor’s Office but refused to obey the demand as his colleagues prohibited him to go there.   

Now, officials of the oil company say that the statement of the Prosecutor's Office saying that Mikhail Khodorkovsky disregarded the request to come to the Office for interrogation is false. To all appearances, the situation differs from what they say. A couple of weeks ago, the Yukos head publicly declared that if the Prosecutor's Office wanted to ask him any questions, then he would come and answer the questions. He added he would appear at the Prosecutor's Office a bit later, after a business trip. But the business trip turned out to be rather long.

Yukos press-secretary Alexander Shadrin told mass media that the oil company received a writ from the Prosecutor's Office on Thursday demanding that Mikhail Khodorkovsky must come for interrogation as a witness in connection with some case. The press-secretary added the oil company had sent a written notification to the Prosecutor's Office to inform that Mikhail Khodorkovsky was on a business trip to Novosibirsk and could not appear for the interrogation.

After all, Mikhail Khodorkovsky could have called the Prosecutor's Office to explain the situation. If he had done so, the interrogation would have been put off till some other day. However, Mikhail Khodorkovsky preferred a sudden arrest instead.

Colleagues of the oil tycoon who arrived together with Mikhail Khodorkovsky to the airport of Novosibirsk say that the oligarch was ready for the arrest. Witnesses say that as soon as a Tu-134 operated by the Medirian airline landed in Novosibirsk for topping-up, it was immediately driven to a remote parking. Then the plane was surrounded with several trucks with the lights on and with two buses crowded with camouflaged people. They rushed into the plane and shouted: "FSB! Put your weapons down or we will shoot!" Nobody in the plane had weapons; the attacking group in its turn had no plans to shoot at all. The head of the group came up to Mikhail Khodorkovsky and explained the FSB group had an order according to which the oligarch was to follow them. 

So, it is quite clear that Mikhail Khodorkovsky needed the arrest, because he does understand what is actually going on. It is highly likely that the oil tycoon has had every opportunity to come to an agreement with the authorities. However, for some unknown reason, he decided to stake everything. Now, thanks to the special detention operation, he has turned out to be quite right. That is why supporters of the oligarch must understand that this tactics may be applied to all people. Indeed, everybody must obey the law. If law enforcement officers are not right, Mikhail Khodorkovsky has every opportunity to contest their actions at court.

In fact, the RF Prosecutor's Office and the FSB have saved the "heroic face" of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, his image of "a fighter against the system". Imagine how he would have looked making statements and defending the implacable positions being still at large, while his partners are taken to jail one by one.

Russia's entire political and economic elite has been expecting a statement from President Putin since Saturday. The statement has been finally released. Putin said, there were reasons to arrest Khodorkovsky. Putin also said, "hysterics and speculations" should be stopped.

In addition, Vladimir Putin is not intended to have meetings either with the Russian Union of Entrepreneurs and Industrialists and politicians regarding the case connected with the oil giant Yukos: "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 Russian law," Putin told members of the government.