Russia’s Interfax news agency has, rather remarkably, picked up yesterday’s sensational interview with Mikhail Khodorkovsky in the Sunday Times. But with a twist. While the emphasis of the Sunday Times article is clearly on Khodorkovsky’s naming of Igor Sechin as the instigator of his arrest and the destruction of Yukos, the far more innocuous «Interfax» article doesn’t mention Sechin at all, effectively ignoring the first third of the Sunday Times piece. Instead, its much softer headline reads “Khodorkovsky believes that the outcome of his case depends on judicial reform in the RF”. While this may not sound very controversial in English, we must not forget that most Russians have no faith whatsoever in the country’s judicial system (and rightly so!) or its ability to reform, so they naturally interpret such a phrase as meaning Khodorkovsky’s fate is hopeless. I want to emphasize this – here is a vivid illustration of the way the Russian press has been subtly (and not so subtly) manipulated in order to achieve an intended emotional impact on the Russian public throughout my client’s ordeal.