The latest Levada Centre poll about attitudes to Khodorkovsky and his company

More than two thirds of Russian citizens do not follow the situation surrounding Yukos and the fate of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The number who have heard nothing about the case has risen to 20%: in October 2004, for comparison, only 4% made that claim.

The level of interest in Khodorkovsky’s case is above average among respondents with higher education (8%) and those with a comparatively high status as consumers (9%). Other categories displaying a similarly greater interest are men and Muscovites. Their answers to other questions also tend to be more positive towards Mikhail Khodorkovsky. On the contrary, women and the youngest respondents (18-24) are inclined to express ignorance and indifference: among women the proportion who have never heard of the Yukos affair is 24% and among the young, as high as 34%. The greatest irritation and hostility towards Khodorkovsky is found among those living in the countryside and the least well-off. 17% of Russian citizens now have a negative attitude to the former head of Yukos, which compares with 30% in 2004; 40% today say they are indifferent to his fate; the remainder are positive or cautiously positive.

Asked about their attitudes to the refusal to grant release on parole to Mikhail Khodorkovsky and Svetlana Bakhmina, half of those polled did not know what to say (51% as concerns Khodorkovsky, 49% in relation to Bakhmina). Respondents who had an opinion about the refusal to give Khodorkovsky parole on the whole supported the court’s decision, though without overwhelming enthusiasm and unanimity: 55% who gave a substantive answer (27% of those polled) considered the refusal correct; 45% (22% of respondents) did not approve the decision. Support for refusing to grant Khodorkovsky parole was highest among the least well-off (34%): those considering the court’s decision was wrong were highest among citizens with higher education (30%) and those resident in Moscow (39%).

The attitude to Svetlana Bakhmina was milder. Only 16% of respondents (or 30% of those who did not avoid the question) believed the court was right in turning down her request for parole. Two times as many, 36%, did not approve the court’s decision (this was 70% of those who answered the question). The judges found their greatest support among the least well-off Russians while the prisoner was best supported by Muscovites (43%) and the best educated (45%).

Asked for their response to the statement, “In the present crisis conditions it is unreasonable to keep Khodorkovsky in prison”, 17% agreed, 30% disagreed. Among Muscovites 38.5% agreed that it was unreasonable to keep Khodorkovsky in prison in the present circumstances and only 9.5% agreed.

The poll was conducted by the Yury Levada Analytical Centre between 10 and 13 October 2008. A total of 1600 individuals, aged 18 and over, were interviewed. Those polled were taken from a representative sample for the entire Russian Federation, reflecting the main socio-occupational and socio-demographic characteristics of the country’s adult population.