I have spent years writing and publicly speaking about the economic motives behind the Russian government’s campaign of persecution against Mikhail Khodorkovsky. I argued repeatedly that the unlawful expropriation of Yukos, the market value of which was estimated to be around $200 billion, was methodically placed into government hands, in particularly the state oil company Rosneft, which is overseen by the top presidential adviser Igor Sechin (one of the architects of Khodorkovsky’s show trial). What is often under-emphasized is the extent to which this daylight robbery has contributed to Rosneft’s value, turning an under-achieving, mismanaged producer into the country’s #1 oil company. The impact of the Yukos theft has finally been acknowledged by Rosneft itself in a statement released yesterday, which says that profits have increased by a staggering 80% thanks to the acquisition of these assets.