Khodorkovsky & Lebedev Communications Center

In this segment of Glasnost Territory Journalist Natella Boltyanskaya interviews Leonid Gozman, a co-chairman of the Just Cause party. In a discussion of the Khodorkovsky case Gozman admits the unconditional release of Khodorkovsky is a non-option for the Kremlin because upon his release he would represent such a powerful opposition political force. In the increasingly heated interview Gozman insists that the Russian state not an arbitrary institution, and that it functions on clear premises; "What we have now is an enlightened absolutism." Using the USA as an example, Gozman presents the notion of a strong state being a product of a strong democracy, and that legitimate democracy and rule of law are the prerequisites for a strong state.