Khodorkovsky & Lebedev Communications Center

Adrian Blomfield of the Telegraph notes that Mikhail Khodorkovsky's second trial is getting much attention ahead of President Dmitry Medvedev's first meeting with US President Barack Obama in London.

While both leaders hope to address America's defense missile plans in central Europe and NATO membership for Ukraine and Georgia, Russia's constant disregard for the rule of law and its poor human rights record will be of issue at the Obama-Medvedev talks, prior to the G20 summit. Blomfield adds that Russia's "stridency" abroad will remain unchanged, as long as the Kremlin pursues a domestic policy of "national resurgence [as] a good way of distracting ordinary Russians from the rollback of their individual freedoms."