According to the February 2007 monthly survey carried out by the Yuri Levada Analytical Centre on ‘Russian Attitudes to the Yukos case’, exactly a quarter of respondents believe that Mikhail Khodorkovsky is a political prisoner.

Answers to other questions demonstrate, furthermore, that the number of Russians who believe Khodorkovsky and his former colleagues to have been persecuted on political grounds exceeds 25%. Twenty-one per cent of respondents accept that the former head of Yukos is the victim of ‘men in power, who profited on his account’. Thirteen per cent believe that the Khodorkovsky case was ‘ordered’ by ‘oligarchs in competition with him’, and 9% put the responsibility down to Vladimir Putin.

The bringing of a new criminal case is also, in the opinion of many Russians, politically-motivated. Thirteen per cent of respondents believe that the new charges are to prevent Khodorkovsky from being paroled and influencing the elections. Eleven per cent believe they are designed to keep Khodorkovsky behind bars and prevent him from claiming back his purloined property, and 7%, finally, are convinced that the new charges have been brought to disrupt the hearing of Khodorkovsky’s claims in the European Court.

In addition, it should be said that 40% of respondents believe that the authorities put pressure on the investigative agencies in the Khodorkovsk case. A fraction more than 22% of respondents believe that the investigation was resumed on the particular initiative of law-enforcement bodies.

Most sympathy for Khodorkovsky is expressed by Moscow residents (38%), as compared to a Russia-wide average of 18%, as well as by people with higher education (28%), people with high income (27%) and people with an income higher than average (26%).

A large proportion of independent entrepreneurs (40%), specialists in non-managerial positions (25%), persons with higher than average income (30%), and to a smaller extent housewives (11%), the unemployed (13%), and persons with low income (10%) are among those who call for the immediate release of the former head of Yukos.

The survey was carried out by the Yuri Levada Analytical Centre in 46 regions and 128 settlements between February 16 and 19, 2007. 1597 persons aged 18 and above took part, a Russia-wide representative selection weighted according to the principal socio-professional and socio-demographic characteristics of the country’s adult population.