Despite assurances by the government that the action against Menatep and YUKOS is nothing more than a routine investigation, the choice of the prosecution belie such claims.

The trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky--former CEO of the YUKOS oil company and Russia’s richest man--begins this month in Moscow. Part of a broader, yearlong judicial assault by the Russian government on YUKOS, Russia’s largest oil exporter, the Khodorkovsky case is certain to have repercussions far beyond the courtroom--foremost in its...

On December 7, 2003, Russians go to the ballot box to elect representatives to the Duma, the lower house of their national parliament. Although such elections have become an established part of Russian political life, they take place this year in a climate of growing fear about President Vladimir Putin’s...

Khodorkovsky's fate is almost certainly being decided not in Judge Danilkin's chambers, but in the Kremlin by two people: Vladimir Putin and his protégé, the haltingly liberal president, Dmitri Medvedev.

U.S.- based Russia experts are commenting on the Russian government's crackdown on the top management of Yukos, the country's most independent, western-oriented energy company. While there is no consensus, some observers are cautioning against premature conclusions that the moves mean Russia is retreating toward state control of the economy.

The interests of Russia's industrial leaders may not always coincide with society's, but by winning the right to promote those interests, the oligarchs can advance Russian democracy.

The arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, head of Russia's largest oil company, ignites worries of a return to statism and a setback to free market reform.

The lessons of the Yukos affair.