Europeans are ready to "trade" Yukos for good relations with Russia

The European mass media are much tougher in their comments to the arrest of the President of “Yukos” Oil Company Mikhail Khodorkovsky than the political leaders of the West. The media stress that the norms of a constitutional state are not observed in Russia. Western politicians, however, remain calm and show the entire world their “balanced” pragmatism.

Readers of the internet-edition “Deutsche Welle” were very pessimistic in their prognoses when answering an express-poll question “Will the West try to protect Khodorkovsky from the Kremlin’s persecutions?”

Only 28 % think that leaders of the Western democracy will protect the Russian businessman from the Kremlin’s persecutions, with 9 % finding it difficult to answer. However 63 % are confident that Khodorkovsky will be sacrificed for state interests in foreign policy and relations with Russia.