This month Eckart von Klaeden, a Bundestag deputy from the Christian Democrat party, published a book discussing what German policy should be towards Russia.

He concludes that the arrest and conviction of Khodorkovsky sent out an unambiguous message that economic success was only possible in Russia if it was wholly subordinate to the goals of the Kremlin. Von Klaeden criticises the state of the judicial system in Russia:

“The abundance of vague legal concepts and constructions used to convict Khodorkovsky run contrary to the conception of the primacy of law. They have permitted those in power to apply the law as they like and change it to their own advantage. In this situation the law becomes the foundation for arbitrary behaviour and inequality. This leads to what Medvedev calls legal nihilism which has deep roots in popular mistrust of the courts. In turn this mistrust is based on the disparity between the ideal of equality before the law and the application of those laws in practice. After Khodorkovsky was found guilty his company was destroyed using suspect and covert methods; later most of it was seized by the State energy company Rosneft. At his press conference in December 2004 Putin said the actions taken were a normal procedure; his economic adviser Andrei Illarionov, however, described them as a ‘show trial’ and the ‘swindle of the year’.”