The monthly poll on “The attitude of Russia’s population to the Yukos case”, undertaken by the Yuri Levada Analytical Centre, showed that the majority of Russians (46%) now consider that Mikhail Khodorkovsky has a chance of being released before the expiry of his sentence. Speaking frankly, 25.6% the respondents specified that the necessary condition for early release was “a change in the political regime”. Almost 34% of respondents answering the question “What could prevent Khodorkovsky’s release?” believe that “whatever happens, he will be imprisoned for as long as the authorities decide”. But, in spite of the unclear prospects for release and the obvious political motives behind the case, the authorities have failed morally to break Khodorkovsky. This is opinion of 50% of Russians. In anticipation of a Yukos bankruptcy and a further sale of its assets, sociologists asked Russians to answer who would get the oil company’s assets.

The most popular point of view is that the assets will go to the company’s former competitors. This is the opinion of 23.5% of respondents. 17.3% are sure that parts of Yukos will pass to “President Putin’s minions”. And only 16.2% suppose that the assets of the oil company will pass to the state.

The poll was executed by Yuri Levada Analytical Centre on 10-13 March 2006 in 46 regions and 128 locations in Russia. Altogether 1602 persons were questioned,aged 18 or older. The poll was executed following an All-Russia representative sampling reflecting the basic professional and demographic social characteristics of the adult population of the country.