American Congressman Tom Lantos, the head of the House of Representative’s Foreign Affairs Committee, believes that the release of Khodorkovsky would radically improve Russia’s image and enhance its reputation. ‘I visited Mr. Khodorkovsky in prison and I genuinely believe him a political prisoner’, he said at a press-conference on Wednesday. ‘He expressed the hope that “the Russian government would follow the rule of law in a way appropriate to a developed and civilized country”. I don’t believe that selective persecution of this kind is the right option’, he went on. ‘It casts a very long shadow over Russia’s reputation. I believe that Russia itself wishes to clean up its reputation and will be the chief beneficiary if it does so’.

(Interfax, 21.02.2007)