Ambassador William Burns, US Deputy Secretary of State and former Russian ambassador, speaking at the Eurasia Foundation Gala Dinner, cited Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s imprisonment as one of the main issues which could prevent Russia fully taking “advantage of the historic window for modernization” which “won’t stay open forever”.

The denial of “basic due process under the law” in Khodorkovsky’s case was, Burns argued in his address, a difficult question still facing the country, one of many being asked not just by outsiders, but increasingly by Russian citizens themselves.

Suggesting the Russian debate had been too focused on personalities, Burns listed the hurdles Russia must overcome in the coming years; the diversification of its economy, the safeguarding of a free press and the building of an independent judiciary, highlighting the Magnitsky case as an example of the corrupt status quo.

If these hurdles are overcome Russia, Burns argued, can become a country which respects the rights of its citizens and thereby “makes it possible for them to realize their extraordinary potential”.