Barack Obama and Mikhail Khodorkovsky

It just so happened this week that on April 1, US President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will meet face to face for the first time ahead of the G-20 summit in London (more on pp. 32-37). And the day before, on March 31, open hearings on the case of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev will begin in the Khamovniki Court. On the first day, the plot of the indictment will be read out (about the trial, see p. 14). In the second, on April 1, as the lawyers suppose, the defendants themselves will speak. It so happened that a few hours later the President of Russia would have to shake hands and smile at the man, President Barack Obama, who 3.5 years ago, on November 18, 2005, while still a Senator from Illinois, together with Delaware Senator Joseph Biden (now Vice President of the United States) and Senator John McCain of Arizona (Presidential Candidate of the Republican Party), signed Joint Resolution No. 322 "Regarding the Trial, Sentence and Imprisonment of Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev", the conclusions of which stated:

“In the understanding of this Senate—

(1) the justice system in Russia failed to provide Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Platon Lebedev with the fair, transparent and impartial hearing required by the laws of the Russian Federation;

(2) the position and status of the Russian Federation among the world's democracies would be greatly enhanced if the authorities of the Russian Federation took the necessary steps to allay widespread fears that:

(A) the prosecution of Mr. Khodorkovsky, Mr. Lebedev and their associates was politically motivated;

(B) the transfer of Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr. Lebedev to camps thousands of kilometers from their home and their families constitutes a violation of Russian law and practice; (C) in (judicial) investigations that pose political threats to the authorities, the judiciary in Russia is a tool of the Kremlin, and such judiciary cannot be considered truly independent /.../