Mikhail Khodorkovsky and other political prisoners in Russia should be released in the run-up to the Sochi Olympics next February as a sign of goodwill, two senior Liberal members of the European Parliament said today.

The call for Khodorkovsky’s release was made by Guy Verhofstadt, leader of the Liberal (ALDE) group in the European Parliament, and Kristiina Ojuland, a former foreign minister of Estonia and ALDE spokesperson on Russia.

Mr Verhofstadt, speaking at a conference in Moscow on EU-Russia relations organised by Mikhail Kasyanov, co-chair of RPR-PARNAS, said the Sochi games should not become an opportunity for Russian president Vladimir Putin to gloss over the regime’s gross human rights violations and hostility towards civil society.

Mr Verhofstadt also called for EU heads of state and government to boycott invitations to attend the games, saying that human rights defenders and NGOs deserve the solidarity of the EU amid the Kremlin’s escalating repression.

Ms Ojuland stated that President Putin wanted to use the Sochi games as a “PR stunt” and that the thought of “seeing our elected representatives shaking hands with someone who is a gross violator of human rights and press freedom will sit uncomfortably with most of us.”

Warning the West not to “turn a blind eye” to the situation in Russia today, she said “the release of political prisoners including Mikhail Khodorkovsky would be a sign of good will and a positive step.”

The ALDE press release can be seen here.