Will Stewart at the Evening Standard points out that many foreign interests in Russia will be closely watching the handling of Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s parole request as an indication of the safety of doing business in the country:

Analysis: Anxious investors in Russia Will Stewart, Evening Standard Mikhail Khodorkovsky, the oligarch jailed under the then Russian President Vladimir Putin, has launched an official plea for parole. In what will be seen as a test of new President Dmitry Medvedev’s bid to make Russia more attractive to outside investors, Khodorkovsky’s defence formally asked that he be released on parole from his eight-year sentence. Khodorkovsky’s imprisonment, and a raft of further charges and curious refusals of parole, echo some of the treatment meted put to BP’s embattled joint venture in Russia, TNK-BP. In recent months, TNK-BP has also been beset by a string of dubious official interventions, implemented, it is believed by official friends of TNK-BP’s Russian partners. The Khodorkovsky case and BP’s travails, are the two most high-profile tests of Medvedev’s pledge to strengthen the rule of law in the country and rid Russia of undue interference from high-ranking officials. And, although he is trying to distance himself from Khodorkovsky’s case – as he is with the BP affair – the eyes of the world are on the new President to see how he deals with the problems.