Putin Represents What Is Wrong With Russia
29 Sep 2010
The Moscow Times
In an opinion editorial for The Moscow Times, Anders Aslund, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, suggests that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin represents "what is wrong with Russia", in particular, corruption.
Aslund said: "The second YUKOS trial makes a mockery of Russia's legal institutions. The two relevant ministers at the time, German Gref and Viktor Khristenko, have both testified in court that former YUKOS CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky could not possibly have stolen 350 million tons of oil from YUKOS. Any normal court would have dismissed the case after that evidence. Until this bad joke ends, it is difficult to take Russia's courts seriously."