Enron, Yukos and the Gatekeepers

[CHIMO]

A defining feature of modern Russia's political and economic landscape -- the Yukos case -- has been interpreted very differently inside Russia and in the West. While no Russian has any doubt about the origin of the case, Western businessmen, politicians and pundits have a variety of explanations. Clearly, a rational Western mind cannot comprehend the idea that any government would intentionally destroy the most dynamic company and undermine the investment and business climate in a country that badly needs capital for financing its economic growth. Therefore, the foreigners have been trying to come up with a reasonable theory that would reach beyond political and personal feuds.

The prosecutors have always understood this longing and have tried to sell a few stories that would help the West rationalize the affair. Two stories seem to have been the most successful. Europeans have bought the "Berlusconi" story: Mikhail Khodorkovsky was on his way to buying political parties and media outlets to become Russia's new Silvio Berlusconi, capturing both political and economic power and subverting Russia's democracy. This story has been disseminated quietly since the Italian prime minister, even though quite unpopular in other EU countries, is still Russia's best friend in Europe.

In the United States, the Yukos case was marketed using a reference to Americans' own recent corporate troubles. Yukos was declared Russia's Enron and was therefore to be crushed as forcefully as America's energy giant was.

As Enron was doomed to collapse under the burden of years of earnings manipulation, so are the government's attempts to maintain the interpretation of the Yukos affair as an isolated case that should not suppress Russia's investment and business climate.

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/stories/2004/12/02/005.html