There has been a lot of interesting discussion over the comments made by Vladimir Putin during the press conference following his last meeting as president with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but what really caught everyone’s attention was what he said about presidential pardons with regard to the political prisoner Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The following is a translated excerpt from a Kommersant editorial which provides an interesting interpretation of the statement.

….Nor were there any illusions concerning the independence of Kosovo. But the attention of all of progressive humanity was now riveted to the third question, that supposedly had been taken off the agenda. Mr. Putin could have not noticed it. But, as it turned out, he couldn’t: