Russia’s only independent polling organisation, the Levada Centre, today published the results of its survey into attitudes towards Mikhail Khodorkovsky in Moscow. A press release from the centre can be read in Russian here and is translated below:

October 24, 2013, Moscow – Almost two thirds of Muscovites would welcome the release of Mikhail Khodorkovsky after he has served almost eleven years in jail. 10% said they were against or rather against his release. A third of Muscovites polled are sure that the decision on the release depends directly on Putin, while 23% believe that it depends on approval from the highest level of the government.

Only 3% of Muscovites felt some benefit from the seizure of Yukos by the authorities, while 82% felt no benefit.

44% of the Muscovites polled have a positive attitude toward Khodorkovsky, 7% have a negative one, and 43% have a neutral one. Most often a positive attitude toward the former head of Yukos was expressed by those who voted for Sergey Mitrokhin (70%) or Alexey Navalny (60%) at the mayoral election as well as the ones who voted for Mikhail Prokhorov (67%) or Vladimir Zhirinovsky (65%) at the presidential election.

Muscovites’ opinions as to whether Mikhail Khodorkovsky will play a significant political role in Russia after his release split equally: 39% of the Muscovites answered in the affirmative and 40% in the negative. Most of Muscovites follow the activity of the former Yukos head in jail: 65% of those polled know that he gives interview and writes articles to the media on a regular basis. 9% of the respondents read those articles and interviews themselves.

70% of Muscovites believe that the judiciary in Russia is dependent on other branches of government. 73% say courts in Russia are used for political purposes: to get rid of political opponents and prosecute people with different opinions. 69% believe that the country has political prisoners. When the sociologists asked them to give names of those who are prosecuted for political motives, 35% pointed at Mikhail Khodorkovsky, 20% – at the defendants in the “Bolotnaya case”, 18% – at Alexey Navalny; Pussy Riot and Greenpeace activists received 11% each; 9% named Sergey Udaltsov (respondents were able to give three answers to this open question).

Today, ten years after Mikhail Khodorkovsky’s arrest, 52% of Muscovites continue to follow his fate with various degrees of attention; 41% do not follow it at all, and 6% have never heard of him.

The poll was carried out by the analytical centre of Yuri Levada on 12-17 October 2013 using a representative sample of Moscow population. There were 1001 respondents aged 18 or older.