Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin seen at a meeting with Cabinet officials in Moscow, Monday, May 25, 2009. (AP Photo/RIA-Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Pool)President Obama has his hands full dealing with Russia. However, high on his agenda should be the release of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Moscow's most famous prisoner.
Success there would demonstrate the administration's ability to promote freedom in Russia and around the world. It even might encourage the freeing of other political prisoners and a new wave of reforms that would make Russia a better partner for the U.S.
Who is Mr. Khodorkovsky? Until the fall of 2003, he was the richest man in Russia, owning a majority stake in the Yukos Oil Co. In just four years, Mr. Khodorkovsky transformed Yukos from a failing, state-owned behemoth into Russia's best-managed energy enterprise. Its stock price skyrocketed 4,400 percent.
But after butting heads with then-President Vladimir Putin, Mr. Khodorkovsky was arrested in 2003 on tax-evasion charges. His real crime, however, was his desire for political independence from the Kremlin kleptocracy. "I want to be a free man in a free country," he said. That was his greatest mistake.
Mr. Khodorkovsky could have emigrated to the West, but he loved his country. He decided to stay and fight. He financially supported democratic opposition parties such as Yabloko and Union of Right Forces (now barred from the Russian Parliament). His "Open Russia" charity spent $100 million a year on Internet and education projects.
On the business front, he proposed an oil pipeline to China and another to the Arctic port of Murmansk. It was all too much for Mr. Putin and the other ex-KGB strongmen who wanted to control Russia's oil sector and pocket billion-dollar profits for themselves.
Relations with Mr. Putin deteriorated irretrievably after Mr. Khodorkovsky publicly questioned him about Kremlin corruption. Mr. Putin's cronies arranged for the entrepreneur's arrest, then expropriated Yukos. The company's tens of thousands of shareholders received no compensation.
Mr. Khodorkovsky, however, received a nine-year sentence even though the prosecution's case fell apart. Both the Russian tax authorities and international auditing firms certified Yukos had paid all the taxes.
Today, Mr. Khodorkovsky and his partner, Platon Lebedev, face a second trial on trumped-up charges of "embezzling" oil belonging to Yukos. If convicted, they will spend the rest of their lives in the modern gulag.
Moscow sorely needs talents like Mr. Khodorkovsky and his programs to reform Russia's economy. The old, commodity-based economy has reached a dead end. To continue growing, Russia must pursue a post-industrial model. That will require enlightened leadership, foreign investment and management skills - the skill set epitomized by Mr. Khodorkovsky.
